Donald Trump has flitted erratically from one position to another on a variety of political beliefs, but he has hewed with remarkable consistency to one: Dictators are good. Trump has maintained this belief throughout his long public career, and he asserted it once again in a speech in New Hampshire Saturday.

In the address, Trump cited Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, and North Korean hereditary communist monarch Kim Jong-un as authorities on his own superiority. “Viktor Orbán, the highly respected prime minister of Hungary, said Trump is the man who can save the western world,” exclaimed Trump. Putin “says that Biden’s, and this is a quote, politically motivated persecution of his political rival is very good for Russia because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy.” As for Kim, “He’s not so fond of this administration, but he’s fond of me.”

Trump is not merely making a Kissingerian argument that these foreign leaders maintained peaceful international relations with him as president. He is citing them specifically as experts on domestic American governance. They know how to run a society, Trump boasts, and they see in Trump a strong leader in the same mold.

  • @perviouslyiner
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    5 months ago

    now? Paul Merton on HIGNFY was mocking it at least as far back as 2016

    • Flying Squid
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      05 months ago

      Is it not a recent thing? I don’t remember him doing it in 2020. He does it constantly now.