Monday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) said President Donald Trump’s odd relationships with dictators endanger the United States national security.
Cooper asked, “What message do you think it sends U.S. allies that the president reduced the military exercises with South Korea based on, he says his, quote very good relationship with Kim Jong-un?”
Kelly said, “Well, Kim Jong-un is certainly getting what he wanted. He doesn’t like the U.S. military on the Korean Peninsula.”
He continued, “The Russians are also transferring military technology to the North Koreans. So, not only on our side, we will become less effective over time in a partnership with the South Koreans, the North Koreans will become stronger because of their partnership with Russia, and Donald Trump doesn’t seem to get that.”
He added, “Or possibly he has such a close personal relationship with him that supersedes the national security interests of the United States. That’s my biggest concern. I mean he just has this odd relationship with dictators around the world, whether it’s Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un or Orbán, or I mean, he’s gone now, but Duterte in the Philippines, this fascination with strongmen and dictators, in a way that’s unhealthy for us as a country. And I do think it puts our national security at risk.”
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