June 13, 2018

After Praising Kim, Trump Calls Media “Country’s Biggest Enemy”

Taking cues from one of the world’s most notorious dictators.

Michael Candelori/ZUMA

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Back in Washington following the Singapore summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, President Donald Trump on Wednesday blasted American media as “fools” and the country’s “biggest threat.” The president also accused networks of trying to undercut the agreement that came out of the high-stakes meeting.

The tweet comes amid mounting confusion over what exactly the Singapore summit did, or did not, achieve. Trump, unsurprisingly, has touted the meeting as an unequivocal victory—he hailed the meeting as “truly amazing” and claimed the world would be “very impressed” with its denuclearization plan. But foreign policy experts and Democratic lawmakers have criticized the joint document signed by both leaders as exceedingly vague and lacking in firm commitments, timetables, and precise definitions of what denuclearization will look like. Even Republicans have called for caution, expressing uncertainty over what Trump accomplished by meeting with one of the world’s most notorious dictators.

The president’s press conference shortly after the summit, in which he downplayed Kim’s devastating human rights record and discussed the real estate potential in North Korea, only added to the confusion.

Many contrasted Trump’s attack on the press Wednesday morning with his effusive praise for Kim in recent days. “Smart,” “loves his people,” and “very talented” are just a few of the compliments Trump has lavished on the North Korean leader since the meeting concluded. About his own citizens, the president wrote this:

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