After ruffling the feathers of foreign elitists at the G7 summit in Canada over the weekend, President Trump hopped on Air Force One and shot over to Singapore for Monday’s historic meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. Of course, the liberal media was foaming at the mouth over Trump’s ability to push back against allies and the thought of something getting done with North Korea. The host of CNN’s Inside Politics, John King eagerly joined that bandwagon on Sunday and even said Trump was making Putin happy.
Towards the beginning of the show, King seemed flummoxed by the weekend’s whirlwind of news as he began his laundry list on complaints. Clearly disgruntled by the President’s actions at the G7, he suggested that maybe the meeting should be called “G6 versus one.” It wasn’t that original of a joke since a version of that (G6+1) was floating around on social media.
A short time later, King turned to New York Times national correspondent Jonathan Martin who tried to slam Republicans as hypocrites for claiming Obama was hurting our stature abroad when he was president. “Canada, our best friend next door, gets the cold shoulder while the President jets off to sit down with no pre-conditions with Kim,” he whined.
“The happiest people in the world today are Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un … And traditional U.S. allies are upset,” King added, to Martin’s agreement.
King even treated the President like a child and lectured him on how to act in front of the adults in the room:
The President's style though is also what rubs a lot of the other leaders the wrong way … If you want to let Russia back in, you bring that up in the private meeting, you test everybody out. You don't announce it on the south lawn. If the host is giving a speech on women’s empowerment, you show up on time, you don't walk into the middle of the meeting disrupting everything. That’s what angers them.
“They think, frankly if you read my e-mails yesterday, they think he is a jerk,” he continued.
Like it was show-and-tell, King highlighted a recent cover of Time magazine emblazed with “King me” and a picture of Trump viewing himself a monarchal ruler. “The President of the United States and his “king me” moment. He thinks he’s right. He thinks he’s right,” King huffed. It’s head-scratching that King would scoff at the President thinking he’s right because (besides his pompous attitude) the CNN host admitted Trump was right several minutes before.
“They think his view is shaped from the '20s, the '30s, the '50s, the ‘60s, that he’s uninformed. On tariffs, for example, the President is right, Canada does slap a 270 percent tariff on some U.S. dairy products,” he said after dismissed summarized complaints by foreign leaders. He went on to explain that most countries have “sacred cows” they put tariffs on. “In Canada, they are literally the cows.”
Bloomberg national political reporter Sahil Kapur bitterly suggested Trump was playing into Putin’s plot, but stopped short of insinuated Trump was a part of it. “Putin could not be scripting this any better if you are having the United States be in a trade war with its allies, France and Germany, Canada and the EU,” he bemoaned to the rest of the panel.
Just before they went to watch President Trump disembark Air Force One in Singapore, King appeared to argue that he didn’t expect Trump to get anything done because he only knows how to destroy:
[A]re we seeing in his disruption any progress on the substance? … He has said he wants to rip up this deal, rip up that deal, rip up that deal … He has not negotiated one major international agreement or even a major bilateral trade agreement…
So much disrespect for their President when he’s overseas.
The relevant portions of the transcript are below, click "expand" to read:
CNN
Inside Politics
June 10, 2018
8:02:54 AM Eastern(…)
JOHN KING: But first, the dramatic and deepening G7 divide better put perhaps as G6 versus one. President Trump abruptly reversed course Saturday even while on Air Force One withdrawing his support for a G7 communique. Instead, President Trump stoking his defiant trade and diplomatic war with traditional U.S. allies, promising even more U.S. tariffs on imports and calling Canada's prime minister – calling Canada’s prime minister dishonest and weak.
(…)
8:06:16 AM Eastern
JONATHAN MARTIN: But it is ironic though, because for the last eight years, the Republicans' chief complaint about President Obama was: he’s coddling our enemies and he is driving away our allies. And now you see precisely the same thing happening. Canada, our best friend next door, gets the cold shoulder while the President jets off to sit down with no pre-conditions with Kim.
KING: The happiest people in the world today are Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un.
MARTIN: Yes.
KING: And traditional U.S. allies are upset.
(…)
8:09:30 AM Eastern
KING: The incoming from the other international diplomats and their teams is stunning, about the President, because they simply think he doesn't get it. They think his view is shaped from the '20s, the '30s, the '50s, the ‘60s, that he’s uninformed. On tariffs for example, the President is right, Canada does slap a 270 percent tariff on some U.S. dairy products. However, what they would say is every country has sacred cows if you will. In Canada, they are literally the cows. But the United States slaps a 350 percent tariff on some tobacco products. The U.S. slaps a 132 percent tariff on some peanut products. There are some industries in every country that either are sacred to the country, they’re vulnerable, or they have political allies with big money. If you look at the big picture, average U.S. tariffs 2.4 percent, average European Union tariffs three percent, Canada 3.1 percent. Their argument is he focuses on this one thing and when you try to make the broader argument, he gives you that Trump glare and he won't listen to you.
(…)
9:17:07 AM Eastern
KING: Again the substance is important. Trade, Russia membership. You mentioned this a bit earlier. The President's style though is also what rubs a lot of the other leaders the wrong way. They all have domestic political audiences, too. They can't snap their fingers and make their legislatures, their parliaments do what they want. The club is built on consensus. If you want to let Russia back in, you bring that up in the private meeting, you test everybody out. You don't announce it on the south lawn. If the host is giving a speech on women’s empowerment, you show up on time, you don't walk in to the middle of the meeting disrupting everything. That’s what angers them. They think, frankly if you read my e-mails yesterday, they think he is a jerk.
(…)
8:21:38 AM Eastern
KING: But just one last point here. I want to show you the cover of Time this week. The President of the United States and his “king me” moment. He thinks he’s right. He thinks he’s right.
(…)
If I could have the Time cover, I want to show to our viewers as the plane tarmacs here. This is the President's mindset is the “king me” moment. Look, as he frequently says, “I'm President, you're not.” He thinks he is right.
MARTIN: He has no grounding in America civic life. I mean, like I think before he came to the presidency, his entire connection to American politics was through the prism of donors coming to his office asking for money. He did not understand -- he wouldn't have known the Ways and Means Committee from a hole in the wall. It wasn't his frame of reference.
(…)
8:24:07 AM Eastern
SAHIL KAPUR: Just a couple days ago, “the Russians are actively seeking to divide our alliance and we must not allow that to happen,” unquote. This was the President’ Director of National Intelligence just a couple of days ago. That’s exactly what happened this weekend. Putin could not be scripting this any better if you are having the United States be in a trade war with its allies, France and Germany, Canada and the EU.
(…)
8:22:51 AM Eastern
KING: The question is, now we’re 15, 16 months in, are we seeing in his disruption any progress on the substance? He has not for example -- he is trying to negotiate now what would be a historic nuclear deal with North Korea. He has said he wants to rip up this deal, rip up that deal, rip up that deal. He's walked away from TPP. He’s walked away from Paris climate. He’s walked away from the Iran nuclear deal. He has not, please correct me if I’m wrong—He has not negotiated one major international agreement or even a major bilateral trade agreement, correct?
(…)
