President Donald Trump is back in the United States after time in Japan for this year’s G20 summit of world leaders and a brief visit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, but his mind is still with those encounters. On Twitter this Monday morning, he touted some particular elements of those encounters revealing just how much he treated the whole trip like a showboating wannabe. There are more important things in life than television ratings, Mr. President.
Of his days in Japan — where he occupied himself with palling around with dictators like Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — Trump tweeted:
‘Congratulations to Prime Minister Abe of Japan for hosting such a fantastic and well run G-20. There wasn’t a thing that was missing or a mistake that was made. PERFECT! The people of Japan must be very proud of their Prime Minister.’
He added of his brief visit with North Korea’s Kim around the so-called Demilitarized Zone between his country and South Korea:
‘Thank you to President Moon of South Korea for hosting the American Delegation and me immediately following the very successful G-20 in Japan. While there, it was great to call on Chairman Kim of North Korea to have our very well covered meeting. Good things can happen for all!’
The fact that it was supposedly “well covered” is essentially not at all remotely relevant to the issues at hand — the threat posed to untold numbers of people across the face of the earth by North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. Trump seems to be completely taken in by Kim’s shows of affection, however. He’s used this approach to policy towards the country in the past too, having praised the moment in the early morning hours when he accepted hostages back from North Korea as probably among the highest-rated moments of early morning television ever — as if that matters
Similarly, the key takeaway from Trump’s time at the G20 summit is not that everything went smoothly. It’s not a street festival — it’s an occasion that Trump took to meet and praise figures like Putin and bin Salman. Trump even lied, claiming that nobody has “directly pointed a finger at” the Saudi leader over his government’s murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. That’s the main issue here — not ratings!
On Twitter this Monday morning, Trump also praised wealthy people apparently getting a tax break in New Jersey.
Check out Twitter’s response:
Featured Image via screenshot
