Conservative commentator Bill Kristol on Friday dismissed President Trump’s praise of Chinese President Xi Jinping as “embarrassing.”
In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, Trump lauded the Chinese president for his efforts to rein in North Korea amid increased concerns over the country’s weapons programs.
{mosads}”I believe he is trying very hard,” Trump said of Xi. “He certainly doesn’t want to see turmoil and death. He doesn’t want to see it. He is a good man. He is a very good man and I got to know him very well.”
Trump and Xi met at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida earlier this month. Since then, the president has backed away from his campaign promise to label China as a “currency manipulator” and has often spoken highly of Xi.
Kristol, the co-founder and editor-at-large of the conservative Weekly Standard magazine, was a vocal critic of Trump throughout his presidential campaign, saying the real estate mogul was unfit for the presidency.