President Donald Trump is facing backlash for his recent tweet praising North Korean President Kim Jong Un’s health as the United States’ coronavirus death toll nears 200,000.
Trump tweeted on Thursday, “Kim Jong Un is in good health. Never underestimate him!”
Kim Jong Un is in good health. Never underestimate him!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 10, 2020
The president’s tweet appears to be in reference to the previous reports on a circulating rumor that suggested Jong Un was gravely ill after suspected heart surgery, but those reports were denied by officials in South Korea.
Almost immediately after the president posted the tweet, he was met with a barrage of reactions from critics who scrutinized his praise of Jong Un compared to his silence on the number of Americans who have died from the coronavirus so far.
“Imagine being such a corrupt and deeply sociopathic President that the first thing on your mind is the health of Kim Jong Un,” Dr. Eugene Gu tweeted. “I mean this could be a movie except nobody would watch it because it is so unbelievable with a cheap, cheesy, and outrageous plot.”
See some of the reactions below:
Imagine being such a corrupt and deeply sociopathic President that the first thing on your mind is the health of Kim Jong Un. I mean this could be a movie except nobody would watch it because it is so unbelievable with a cheap, cheesy, and outrageous plot.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) September 10, 2020
— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) September 10, 2020
190,000 Americans are dead because of you. No offense, but I don’t give a flying fuck about your murderous dictator friend’s health.
— Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) September 10, 2020
From the Woodward book:
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) September 10, 2020
• Trump was impressed by North Korea’s Kim Jong Un when he first met him.
• Trump described how Kim said he had his uncle killed.
• Trump boasted about “law and order” after agents removed protesters near Washington church.
Disgusting and disgraceful.
You're a traitorous mass murderer.
— John Pavlovitz (@johnpavlovitz) September 10, 2020
Multiple Twitter users also accused Trump of caring more about the North Korean leader than he does for some Americans.
One of the tweets read, “Trump literally cares more about the health of brutal North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un than the health of millions of Americans, over 200,000 of whom died from the coronavirus, including Trump’s supposed ‘friend’ Herman Cain.”
Trump literally cares more about the health of brutal North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un than the health of millions of Americans, over 200,000 of whom died from the coronavirus, including Trump’s supposed “friend” Herman Cain.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) September 10, 2020
Trump never criticizes Putin & says "nice" things about Kim Jong Un. Meanwhile Trump consistently trashes US leaders, both past & present. As always, Trump can't help but show his true colors. He is disloyal to the max. #TraitorTrump
— MURRAY (@murray_nyc) September 10, 2020
Although the White House has repeatedly insisted the coronavirus is under control in the United States, reports suggest otherwise. Over the summer, coronavirus cases soared in more than 40 out of 50 states with confirmed cases in the U.S. peaking at more than 70,000 for a single day.
There are more than 6.5 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States.