Ex-GOP lawmaker: No president has ever praised a dictator the way Trump has with Kim

Ex-GOP lawmaker David Jolly said Tuesday that no U.S. president has ever hailed a dictator the way President Trump is complimenting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. 

“For the record of history, never before has a U.S. President spoken this way of a dictator accused of crimes against his own people,” former Rep. David Jolly (R-Fla.), a frequent critic of the president, wrote on Twitter. 

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Trump heaped praise on Kim Tuesday as he met with the North Korean premier in Singapore for a historic summit that followed decades of tensions between Washington and Pyongyang.

Trump hailed Kim as “a very worthy, very smart negotiator” and a “very talented man” who “loves his country very much,” and vowed to meet with him “many times.”

The remarks were unusual for a U.S. president. American officials have typically avoided such language to describe North Korean leaders, because of the country’s long record of human rights abuses and frequent threats against the U.S. and its allies. 

“I don’t think you can be any more plain than what we’re asking,” he said. “We talk about unwavering commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.”

But Trump also touted an agreement signed on Tuesday that calls for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for the U.S. providing unspecified “security guarantees” for the North.