President Donald Trump can be shamed into (kind of) walking back comments that reflect kindly on known tyrants — all it takes is resounding criticism that overshadows any of his related accomplishments.
After receiving widespread negative coverage of comments he made earlier this week appearing to absolve North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in the death of Otto Warmbier, a US student who died after being imprisoned in North Korea for over a year, Trump said Friday he was “misinterpreted.”
At a summit between the US and North Korea earlier this week, Trump was asked by reporters if he had confronted Kim about Warmbier’s death. The president confirmed that he did ask about the young American’s mysterious death in 2017, and said he believed Kim “felt badly,” but claimed to have known nothing about it at the time.
It’s highly unlikely that the North Korean dictator wasn’t aware of the high-profile case of an American captive that made headlines around the globe. Still, Trump on Thursday said it wasn’t in Kim’s “advantage to allow that to happen.”
“He tells me that he didn’t know about it and I will take him at his word,” Trump told reporters after the summit held in Vietnam.
A day later, however, Trump backtracked his statement, tweeting that he holds North Korea responsible for Warmbier’s brutal treatment.
It's called politics. Nothing more or less. Tell everyone what they want to be told. Get into power. Stay in power.
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