Trump quip about North Korea's Kim sparks outcry on social media

By Roberta Rampton

 

President Trump shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he wished people would "sit up at attention" for him like North Koreans do for their leader Kim Jong Un, a joke that sparked instant outrage on social media and cable news.

 

It was the latest example of a Trump remark about strongmen leaders - delivered in a deadpan style - to fall flat and fuel perceptions among his critics that the president admires autocrats.

 

Trump was asked during a Fox News Channel interview outside the West Wing if he would invite Kim to the White House. The two met earlier this week to begin to discuss Pyongyang's nuclear programme, a summit marked by what Trump said was friendly chemistry between them.

 

Trump indicated a White House visit by Kim was possible: "Hey he's the head of a country," Trump said.

 

"He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same," Trump said, pointing to the West Wing.

 

Kim is suspected of ordering the assassination of his half-brother in February and the execution of his uncle in 2013. U.N. investigations have also reported human rights violations, the use of political prison camps and the widespread use of starvation as a tool to enforce political loyalty.

 

Trump was later asked by reporters what he meant by the remark. "I'm kidding. You don't understand sarcasm," Trump said.

 

The joke was reminiscent of one he made at a private dinner with donors in March, when he noted that Chinese President Xi Jinping no longer faced term limits.

 

"I said, 'President for life. That sounds good. Maybe we are going to have to try it,'" he later said, recounting the outrage that followed.

"But I'm joking," he said, complaining about the reaction. "I'm joking about being president for life."

 

At a rally in February, he said Democrats in Congress were treasonous because they did not clap at his State of the Union speech.

 

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders later said he didn't mean it: "The president was clearly joking with his comments," she said.

 

Trump's controversial quips draw fire from the quick-to-tweet media because they feed into a caricature created by his opponents, said Chris Barron, a pro-Trump Republican strategist.

 

"They believe that Trump is somehow this autocratic despot and they're waiting for any words that fill in that narrative," Barron said in an interview.

 

"If Trump says something and it can be read two ways, immediately the benefit of the doubt is against Trump," he said.

 

But David Litt, a speechwriter to former President Barack Obama, said blaming the listener for not getting the joke is a way to avoid responsibility for going too far.

 

There are some topics that presidents should just not joke about publicly lest they make allies nervous or embolden adversaries, Litt told Reuters.

 

"Maybe Donald Trump is the kind of dry, deadpan humorist who does great material about how terrific dictators are - but if that's the case, he should wait until he retires as president to start breaking out that particular part of his act," Litt said.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-06-16

The man is a complete moron and has access to a nuclear arsenal.

Sad and scary.

Once again the moron of the world has spoken.

Sitting, kneeling, standing - tRump has lost it.

 

So at the military parade do we sit? Stand? 

 

Half-expecting to see a dozen Secret Service agents jogging next to the presidential limo now.

 

 

Edited June 16, 20188 yr by mtls2005

Those people with TDS need to get a sense of humor. 

 

"I'm kidding. You don't understand sarcasm," Trump said.

The idiom "many a true word is said in a joke" seems to apply here. But leave it to tRump to not understand the difference between sarcasm and an idiom.

tRump is an aspiring dictator, a wannabe autocratic leader. This is why his great admiration for the strongmen of the world. Like other strongmen, he favours the use of pure unadulterated bullshit (aka lies) almost every time he speaks or tweets.

Emulating the world's strongmen is why he desires a military parade. Interesting, he speaks of saving money by cancelling war games in Korea but promotes staging a military parade (at great expense) on USA soil.

Like other strongmen, he embraces the use of governing by executive fiat (much like an article 44).

Hopefully, the beginning of the end for tRump is near, otherwise, parades, autocracy and death to Dems by antiaircraft guns could very well be in America's future.

Whenever he "quips" something incredibly stupid, his defenders' last line of defense is to say "he was just joking".

 

tRump has absolutely no sense of humor, so to suggest that others "get" one are clueless.

 

 

Sit up at attention for a draft dodger?

Whatever Trump says, there will be hordes of detractors, but he is still the best president U.S. has ever had ?

Off-topic, troll and inappropriate posts removed.  

It was said in jest. Actually it was humorous.  I guess many in the media just don't want to get it as it gives them a chance to make an issue out of nothing. 

7 hours ago, phantomfiddler said:

Whatever Trump says, there will be hordes of detractors, but he is still the best president U.S. has ever had ?

43 minutes ago, sungod said:

Whats with the spelling of Trump with a small t and big R as in tRump? Think I missed that one?

Dang, nothing gets by you base man-child supporters!!!

3 hours ago, Thailand said:

The man is a complete moron and has access to a nuclear arsenal.

Sad and scary.

Are you talking about the man-child or Kim?

1 minute ago, Becker said:

Are you talking about the man-child or Kim?

Birds of a feather flock together. Man-child could refer to either one IMO.

They'll make quite a pair when they start building a Boca Raton on the shores of N K.

Then we'll see how long the love affair lasts.

Yet another reason not to bother listening to anything the reality TV con artist has to say. So either he is lying or he is joking. I wonder if and when any truthful statements ever come out of that mouth hole.

 

Maybe we need pop-ups like in the old VH1 pop-up videos so the rest of us non-supporters can tell when he is joking, lying, being self delusional or actually telling the truth (a rarity I assume).

 

It is amazing when his supporters on here first proclaim that the reality TV con artist is saying it like it is and then turn around and state it was just a joke or in jest and that he doesn't really mean it. So which is it? He tells it like it is or he doesn't really mean it? So confusing.

 

I stopped listening to that con artist long ago when I realized that anything he says is basically not worth hearing.

Edited June 16, 20188 yr by Silurian

3 minutes ago, Silurian said:

Yet another reason not to bother listening to anything the reality TV con artist has to say. So either he is lying or he is joking. I wonder if and when any truthful statements ever come out of that mouth hole.

 

Maybe we need pop-ups like in the old VH1 pop-up videos so the rest of us non-supporters can tell when he is joking, lying, being self delusional or actually telling the truth (a rarity I assume).

 

It is amazing when his supporters on here first proclaim that the reality TV con artist is saying it like it is and then turn around and state it was just a joke or in jest and that he doesn't really mean it. So which is it? He tells it like it is or he doesn't really mean it? So confusing.

 

He thrives on "confusing" America and the world. "Confused" is why many businesses will not invest in the future right now, in America, in the neighbouring countries or the world. He thinks "confusion" is leadership. Every time he opens his pie hole, the world becomes more "confused".

1 hour ago, Boon Mee said:

Those people with TDS need to get a sense of humor. 

Wow! Slow down a bit. I do think everything he say is funny, and I am laughing at the guy everytime I read about him.
I even call him, and see him as, a clown. What more can you ask for?

4 hours ago, rooster59 said:

"He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same," Trump said,

the thing is, his people do that already. And then they roll over to have their bellies scratched.

" Donald dreams of dictators. He’s spent the three years — to the day — since riding down that escalator in Trump Tower demanding loyalty, fantasizing about torture, dividing the country into “followers” and enemies. Trump understands the dynamics of power and the media better than perhaps anyone who’s ever lived. He sees what people say he can’t do — and see what they don’t do to stop him when he does it."

 

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/15/trump-dictators-authoritarians-strongmen-649635

 

 

1 hour ago, mamypoko said:

Sit up at attention for a draft dodger?

Not just a draft dodger but a hypocritical coward. 

It's disgusting that someone who didn't volunteer for service, wraps himself in the flag and  spits out insincere comments on patriotism. The most vocal of "patriots' are never the ones who have volunteered for service, or experienced active service.

4 hours ago, rooster59 said:

"I'm kidding. You don't understand sarcasm," Trump said.

Seems to me that it's you who don't know sarcasm. I can teach you, and you can pay me thru one of your charities.

 

You see, that's sarcasm.

With one tweet, Trump reveals to the world by their (over)reactions those who are on the side of evil. It's amazin'!

 

'it was the latest example of a Trump remark about strongmen leaders - .............delivered in a deadpan style -........... to fall flat and fuel perceptions among his critics that the president admires autocrats'

only the left could spin a story in this way.....it is so sad the way everything trumpy says is twisted

 

19 minutes ago, geriatrickid said:

Not just a draft dodger but a hypocritical coward. 

It's disgusting that someone who didn't volunteer for service, wraps himself in the flag and  spits out insincere comments on patriotism. The most vocal of "patriots' are never the ones who have volunteered for service, or experienced active service.

and yet here you are living in Pattaya and passing moral judgement. isn't that a tad hypocritical ?

 

10 minutes ago, Rigby40 said:

With one tweet, Trump reveals to the world by their (over)reactions those who are on the side of evil. It's amazin'!

 

 Thanks, good one!

1 minute ago, wombat said:

and yet here you are living in Pattaya and passing moral judgement. isn't that a tad hypocritical ?

 

Are you saying that everyone living in Pattaya is amoral? Isn't that a tad silly?

6 minutes ago, wombat said:

'it was the latest example of a Trump remark about strongmen leaders - .............delivered in a deadpan style -........... to fall flat and fuel perceptions among his critics that the president admires autocrats'

only the left could spin a story in this way.....it is so sad the way everything trumpy says is twisted

 

"it is so sad the way everything trumpy says is twisted"

According to most posters who reacted to this thread, it is tRump who is "twisted", not what he said.

3 hours ago, Get Real said:

Once again the moron of the world has spoken.

Sad that people have no sense of humour these days

55 minutes ago, sungod said:

I'm English, I really dont care. I asked a simple question.

 

Now run along hill billy.

So in English-English is hillbilly another word for liberal??

If the answer is "no" then you're obviously a very confused individual.