Trump Publicly Lauds Own Restraint For Not Calling Kim Jong Un ‘Short And Fat’

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting on tax policy with business leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
In this Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017 photo, President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. Trump is calling for “Merit Based immigration” following the truck atta... In this Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017 photo, President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. Trump is calling for “Merit Based immigration” following the truck attack in New York City that killed eight people and injured 11. Trump says on Twitter Wednesday that the driver in Tuesday’s attack “came into our country through what is called the ‘Diversity Visa Lottery Program,’ a Chuck Schumer beauty.” (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) MORE LESS
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President Donald Trump on Sunday praised his own restraint for not calling North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “short and fat,” but claimed he tries “so hard” to be Kim’s friend.

“Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me ‘old,’ when I would NEVER call him ‘short and fat?'” Trump tweeted. “Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend – and maybe someday that will happen!”

Trump posted the tweet while on a 12-day trip to Asia, a sudden digital outburst amid formal appearances.

Asked whether she thinks “name calling is helpful,” senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway on Sunday claimed Trump was responding to an insult from Kim.

“I think that that was the President just responding the way he does to somebody who insulted him first,” she said on ABC News’ “This Week.”

Trump’s and Kim’s war of words is not new; Trump in September called Kim a “Rocket Man” on a “suicide mission” in a speech at the United Nations.

Kim responded by calling Trump a “mentally deranged U.S. dotard,” another jab at his age: Trump is 71 years old.

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