Fox News host Tucker Carlson called the North Korean government “disgusting” while he tagged along with President Trump on his trip to the region, but defended the President’s praise for murderous leader Kim Jong-un.
During a phone interview with his colleagues on “Fox and Friends Sunday,” Carlson addressed Trump’s close relationship with Kim despite the country’s “monstrous” human rights abuses.
“Yeah, I mean, there’s no defending the North Korean regime which is a monstrous regime. It’s the last really Stalinist regime in the world,” he said. “It’s a disgusting place, obviously. So there’s no defending it.”
He went on to argue that Trump is just “realistic” about what it means to lead a country.
“On the other hand, you’ve got to be honest about what it means to lead a country. It means killing people, not on the scale the North Koreans do, but a lot of countries commit atrocities, including a number that we are closely allied with,” he said. “I’m not a relativist or anything, but it’s important to be honest about that, and it’s not necessarily a choice between, you know, the evil people and the great people, it’s a choice most of the time between the bad people and the worst people.
“That’s kind of the nature of life, and certainly nature of power,” he continued. “And I do think that’s how the President sees it. You know, he’s far less sentimental about this stuff and maybe, I think, more realistic about it.”
Tucker Carlson defends Trump's praise for Kim Jong-un: Running a country "means killing people" pic.twitter.com/ulkiUeAVuR
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) July 1, 2019
Trump raised eyebrows when he invited Carlson to accompany him on his trip to North Korea over the weekend instead of his own national security adviser. Trump gave Carlson an exclusive interview while visiting the regime, as reports surface suggesting Trump may consider recognizing the country as a nuclear power.
Trump made history on Sunday as the first sitting U.S. president to cross the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea and stand on North Korean soil.
