If we’ve learned anything during President Trump’s time in the Oval Office, it’s that he loves Twitter. Now, it seems he’s admitted that he sometimes “felt foolish” when harshly addressing North Korea and its Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, but he also felt it was a necessary tactic to unite the two countries.
“I think the rhetoric, I hated to do it, sometimes I felt foolish doing it, but we had no choice,” Trump said to Fox News host Sean Hannity per clips of an interview to air Tuesday night, The Hill reported.
In the past, Trump has repeatedly referred to Kim as “little rocket man” and promised to bring “fire and fury” to the country if it endangers the United States. He also blamed previous administrations for remaining silent in the face of North Korea’s sharp rhetoric.
If the country did something “very bad and very threatening and horrible,” then past presidents wouldn’t react, Trump commented during the interview that followed his Singapore summit with Kim.
“That's not the answer. That's not what you have to do,” Trump said.
Trump also recognized on Tuesday during a press conference that he could potentially be wrong about trusting Kim. “I don’t know that I’ll ever admit that, but I’ll find some kind of an excuse,” Trump said, smiling, per The Hill.
Still, after the summit, Trump applauded the North Korean leader and said the people “love” Kim, regardless of Trump’s previous remarks denouncing the regime’s purported human rights abuses.
Trump told ABC’s George Stephanopoulous that he can only assess Kim based on their meeting.
“I mean, this is what we have, and this is where we are, and I can only tell you from my experience, and I met him, I've spoken with him, and I’ve met him,” Trump said.
