Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Former President Donald Trump on Thursday was given several chances during a Fox News interview to reject autocrats and walk back his praise for President Vladimir Putin of Russia but didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Fox\u2019s Sean Hannity set Trump up multiple times during the 30-minute exchange to criticize Putin, but the former president didn\u2019t go along. He instead touted his relationships with Putin, the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Xi Jinping of China.<\/p>\n
Trump came under fire last month for describing Putin\u2019s invasion of Ukraine as \u201cgenius\u201d and \u201csavvy,\u201d keeping in line with his tendency to speak favorably of the Russian leader. Even House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Trump ally, broke with the former president this week, saying there was nothing \u201csavvy or genius\u201d about Putin. McCarthy went on to say that Putin was \u201cevil,\u201d condemning a war that has already left hundreds of civilians dead in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Hannity not once, but twice, brought up the blowback to Trump\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you also recognize he\u2019s evil, do you not?\u201d the Fox host said.<\/p>\n
Trump again didn\u2019t go that far, but Hannity gave it another try.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me go back to the issue of the criticism, because I\u2019ve known you well over 25 years,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd when you got criticized for saying that Vladimir Putin is smart, we\u2019ve had many conversations, and you\u2019ve often quoted to me Sun Tzu, \u2018The Art of War\u2019: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Is that how you viewed Vladimir? Did you view Vladimir Putin and people like President Xi and Kim Jong Un and the Iranian mullahs as enemies that you needed to keep close?\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump, in response, didn\u2019t call his former counterparts enemies.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got along with these people. I got along with them well,\u201d he said. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean they are good people. It doesn\u2019t mean anything other than the fact that I understood them and perhaps they understood me \u2014 maybe they understood me even better. That\u2019s OK, because they knew there would be a big penalty.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hannity pressed yet again, telling the former president he wanted to understand his thinking, while also trying to put words into Trump\u2019s mouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thinking is, we got along but you knew that they were looking out for their interests at all times,\u201d Hannity said, with the former president interjecting, \u201cOne-hundred percent.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Fox News host continued: \u201cAnd you understood that they were capable of evil things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPutin is for Russia, and you see what happened,\u201d Trump responded. \u201cAnd that is all because they didn\u2019t respect our leader. Look, there was nobody, and Putin will tell you this \u2014 if he was telling the truth, and I am sure he has told it to all of his inner sanctum \u2014 nobody was tougher on Russia than me.\u201d<\/p>\n