Dictator Diplomacy™: Trump's Unusual Friendships

Table of Contents

From “fire and fury” to “very friendly” — what Trump’s praise for dictators reveals about his diplomacy.

By Citizen of Europe — Analysis
27 August 2025 · Reading time: ~6 min

From “Rocket Man” to “Very Friendly”

This week, President Trump met with South Korea’s President Lee Jae-myung at the White House and described North Korea’s Kim Jong-un as “very friendly,” hinting at another meeting later this year. That’s a sharp turn from the 2017 “Rocket Man” era and threats of “fire and fury.” Trump’s line has shifted from public menace to personal rapport.

Friendship Over Strategy

Trump’s “I get along with him” refrain isn’t limited to Kim. He has repeatedly praised (or downplayed) the excesses of strongmen — calling Vladimir Putin “savvy,” lauding Viktor Orbán as a “great leader,” joking about Xi Jinping’s “president for life,” and even once crediting Saddam Hussein for being “good at killing terrorists.” The pattern: elevate personal chemistry and optics over sustained outcomes or institutional leverage.

What This Rhetoric Does

Narrative control: Casting enemies as potential friends recasts Trump as the indispensable deal-maker.
Image projection: The shock value of praising pariahs becomes a brand asset.
Normalization effect: Praise for autocrats blunts outrage and moves the Overton window toward impunity.

📌 Trump’s Dictator “Friendship” Timeline

2017 — Kim Jong-un: “Rocket Man”; “fire and fury.”
2018–2019 — Kim Jong-un: Singapore & Hanoi summits; “we fell in love” letters.
2016, 2020 — Vladimir Putin: “strong leader,” “savvy,” despite Crimea.
2025 — Vladimir Putin: Trump says Putin is “ready to make peace,” signals a “good chance” to meet soon.
2016 — Saddam Hussein: “He killed terrorists. He was very good at that.”
2018 — Xi Jinping: “President for life… maybe we’ll give that a shot someday.”
2021–2023 — Viktor Orbán: “a great leader,” “fantastic man.”
Ongoing — Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: “He gets things done… very good relationship.”

Verdict: Not a gaffe but a pattern: call strongmen “friends,” call democracies “freeloaders.”

📌 Expert View

“There is no ‘Trump Doctrine’—just chaos.”

— Sidney Blumenthal, The Guardian, Aug 2025

Verdict: Deference to autocrats isn’t strategy. It’s instability masquerading as diplomacy.

Why It Matters

Friend-talk without substance hands legitimacy to regimes that jail journalists, crush dissent, and export repression. It also unsettles allies who depend on stable, values-based U.S. commitments. Diplomacy is more than selfies: without verifiable concessions, “friendship” is a discount coupon for autocrats.

Disclaimer & Sources

All claims verified as of 27 Aug 2025 using major wires and on-record remarks (Reuters, Axios, Guardian), plus historical quotes from public transcripts (2017 “fire and fury”; 2018–2019 Kim letters). Putin-related 2025 comments sourced to mainstream reporting on Trump’s statements about a potential meeting and “ready to make peace.”

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