Former President Donald Trump heaped praise on authoritarian Chinese President Xi Jinping during a lengthy interview Friday with the podcaster Joe Rogan.

“We’re dealing with the smartest people,” Trump said, referring to the leaders of U.S. adversaries, about an hour and a half into their conversation.

“They hate when I say, you know, when the press — when I called President Xi, [the press] said, ‘Well, he called President Xi brilliant.’ Well, he’s a brilliant guy. He controls 1.4 billion people with an iron fist. I mean, he’s a brilliant guy, whether you like it or not. And they go crazy.”

  • @[email protected]
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    326 days ago

    Not trying to be a dick (though I guess it kind of happened anyway), but maybe part of the issue here is that people are referencing cartoons instead of actual would history, when talking about the imminent threat of an autocratic ruler.

    Just saying…