From the moment he was elected president in 2016, there has been much media hand-wringing about the “normalization” of Donald Trump. Now, one of his biggest Fox News boosters thinks it’s time for the normalization of Kim Jong Un.
Pete Hegseth, an unofficial adviser to the president and weekend host of Fox & Friends, made the case Wednesday morning that the North Korean leader doesn’t really want to be a murderous dictator and Trump could be the one to help him realize his inner cuddliness.
Asked by Fox & Friends host Ainsley Earhardt why Kim Jong Un would agree to a sit-down summit with Trump, Hegseth said, “I think he wants a picture with the American president.”
ADVERTISEMENT
After co-host Steve Doocy added, helpfully, “He’s hungry,” Hegseth elaborated:
Fox host and Trump adviser Pet Hegseth on Kim Jong Un: "The guy who wants to meet with Dennis Rodman and loves NBA basketball and loves western pop culture, probably doesn't love being the guy that has to murder his people all day long. Probably wants normalization." pic.twitter.com/YQAcY1BXh7
— John Whitehouse (@existentialfish) May 23, 2018
“I think there is probably a point at which the guy who wants to meet with Dennis Rodman and loves NBA basketball and loves western pop culture, probably doesn't love being the guy that has to murder his people all day long,” Hegseth explained. “He probably wants some normalization. And let's give it to him if we can make the world safer.”
In addition to reportedly ordering the killing of his own estranged older brother, Kim Jong Un also had more than 300 of his own people executed during his first five years as leader of North Korea, according to a 2016 report.
Hegseth, who once attacked President Obama for not wearing a tie during a press conference about the beheading of journalist James Foley, likely would have snarled at any Obama talks with Kim. But he seems to have no problem with Trump giving Kim Jong Un a shot at “normalization.”
