During a recent interview, President Donald Trump expressed uncertainty about whether Chinese President Xi Jinping shared his stance on preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, a key justification Trump has used for initiating the conflict with Iran.
In a discussion with Sean Hannity of Fox News on Thursday, following his meetings with Xi in Beijing, Trump reflected on their interactions. The interview aired on Hannity’s show later that evening.
Trump described the encounter as cordial, referring to Xi as a friend. However, when pressed by Hannity about whether Xi agreed that Iran should not possess nuclear arms, Trump admitted that Xi was not particularly forthcoming.
“He’s a pretty cool guy,” Trump remarked, suggesting that Xi wouldn’t explicitly endorse his viewpoint by saying, “that’s a good point.”
When asked if he believed Xi was in agreement with him, Trump responded, “I think he did.”
One Letter Difference
Despite Presidents historically avoiding domestic political hits while abroad, Trump also took time during the interview to slam Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden – and reveal the new nickname he had for their party.
‘I came up with a new name,’ Trump said, adding that he wasn’t sure if he should share it.
He then did.
‘Dumacrats,’ he said. ‘Because they’re dumb, they’re dumb. It’s d-u-m. I got rid of the B. So, you’re only changing one letter, right? E goes and the U comes.’
Hannity had a laugh about it.
‘You know you take up more space in people’s heads than any one person on the face of this Earth, right? You live rent-free,’ the Fox News host responded.
The Greeting Game
Hannity had started out the interview by suggesting Trump had gotten a much more lavish welcome than Obama, the last President to visit China before Trump’s 2017 trip. Biden met with Xi several times and visited other Asian nations, but skipped a China trip.
The President said that’s because ‘there’s no doubt about … we just have a good relationship.’
‘Well, I mean, if I got out of the plane and nobody was there to greet me, I would say that wouldn’t be so cool,’ Trump said.
The President then lavished praise on the Chinese leader, calling him ‘tall,’ ‘especially for this country because they tend to be a little shorter,’ and suggested Hollywood couldn’t cast someone better than Xi.
But when pressed about what Xi might do to help the United States, Trump didn’t yet have definitive answers.
Oil for Influence
He’s set to meet with Xi again Friday, before departing for Washington.
When Hannity asked the President if he thought the Chinese may be able to influence the Iranians ‘considering they are one of their biggest customers,’ Trump answered with a shrug.
‘Yeah, probably, but umm, look, he’s not coming in with guns, he’s not coming in with weapons, they’re not coming in shooting,’ Trump answered.
He answered similarly when Hannity prodded Trump on China’s support for Iran.
‘I mean, when you say support, they’re not fighting a war with us or anything,’ Trump replied. ‘He said he’s not going to give military equipment, that’s a big statement. He said that strongly.’
The President said that Xi did agree to buy US oil.
‘And one thing I think that we’re going to make a deal on is they’ve agreed they want to buy oil from the United States,’ Trump said.
‘They’re going to go into Texas. We’re going to start sending Chinese ships to Texas and to Louisiana and to Alaska. And I think that was another thing that was agreed to,’ he added.
@dailymail President Xi Jingping rolled out the red carpet for President Trump before they headed inside to negotiate world affairs. Daily Mail’s @Jon Michael reports from on the ground in Beijing. #usa #china #trump #xijingping
Farmer’s Fortune
Trump later told Hannity that Xi would like to see the US make a deal with Iran.
‘He said, “If I can be of any help, at all, I would like to be of help,”‘ the President stated.
Trump also touted a possible deal with China to buy 200 Boeing planes, up from the 150 the US-based company had sought, the President said.
‘I think it was a commitment,’ he said. ‘He said, sort of like “save it,” but I think it was a commitment.’
Overall Trump boasted that the talks went ‘better than last time’ and more deals were to come.
‘They’re going to do a lot of soybeans for our farmers. They’re going to be buying a lot of our farm product,’ he said.
He then segued and told Hannity that ‘Democrats are against farmers,’ before revealing the new nickname he had given the party.
Hannity didn’t ask Trump any questions about Taiwan.
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