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It was nearly six months ago when President Joe Biden delivered remarks on the domestic threats to our democracy, and Democrats specifically called out Republicans who “promote authoritarian leaders.” There was no great mystery as to whom he was referring.
Indeed, Donald Trump spent the ensuing weeks and months proving his presidential successor right. In the wake of the Republican backing Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, the former American president endorsed Jair Bolsonaro’s authoritarian government in Brazil in September, only to throw his support behind Spain’s right-wing political party a month later. As 2023 got underway, Trump also reiterated his belief that Russia’s Vladimir Putin is more trustworthy than American intelligence professionals.
Last night, shortly before midnight, the Republican apparently thought it’d be a good idea to promote North Korea’s criticisms of U.S. military exercises in the Pacific by way of his social media platform:
“Kim Jung Un of North Korea, who I got to know and got along with very well during my years as President, is not happy with the U.S. and South Korea doing big training and air exercises together. He feels threatened.”
In the same missive, Trump went on to whine about South Korea not paying the U.S. more money for the military drills he derided as “provocative” — which, incidentally, is the same adjective North Korea uses to condemn the same exercises.
To be sure, it’s problematic that the Republican has long targeted our South Korean allies with a policy that isn’t too dissimilar to a protection racket.
But even worse is seeing the former American president uncritically promoting Pyongyang’s feelings about the United States’ foreign policy. Note, there wasn’t a hint of disagreement from Trump about Kim Jong Un’s position: Taken at face value, the Republican apparently just wanted the world to know what North Korea’s authoritarian leader was thinking — as if Trump were somehow comfortable playing the role of press secretary for an adversarial dictator.
Sure, Trump could side with his own country, but he preferred to issue a statement echoing the sentiments of a foreign foe.
The result was the kind of geopolitical split screen that Americans are unaccustomed to seeing: On the one hand, President Joe Biden, on heels of his historic trip to Kyiv this week, delivered a bold address in Warsaw yesterday on the importance of protecting democracy, ahead of a related gathering of NATO leaders today.
On the other hand, there’s his predecessor, sitting at Mar-a-Lago, passing along Kim Jung Un’s dissatisfaction with U.S. foreign policy.