The New York Times editorial board mocked President Trump’s summit with North Korea by saying one of the reasons Trump felt comfortable at the meeting is because he’s physically taller than Kim Jong Un.
“Dealing with men like Mr. Kim is, on some level, comfortable ground for Mr. Trump,” the paper said in an editorial published Tuesday night. “Such negotiations are a higher-stakes, global version of the world he came up in, one of cutthroat real estate developers and shady businessmen and mobsters. That is the arena Mr. Trump knows, and the one he respects. … Plus, Mr. Trump is way taller than Mr. Kim. And for this president, size does matter.”
Kim is about 5’8″, according to a report in the Associated Press, while Trump’s doctor said in February that the president is about 6’3″.
Some speculated that Kim looked taller during the summit, however, and that may have been because he was wearing shoes with a thicker sole.
The Times editorial ridiculed the Tuesday meeting between Trump and Kim, during which Trump repeatedly complimented the dictator as “talented” and “a great negotiator.” The two also shook hands and posed for cameras several times throughout the roughly five-hour summit.
“Mr. Trump was even more effusive about Mr. Kim after their session, sounding more like he was deconstructing a blind date than analyzing a diplomatic meeting,” said the Times. It added that “if he somehow can pull off this trick, boy oh boy, won’t everyone be amazed.”
The summit resulted in a promise from Kim to denuclearize his country and in exchange, Trump said the U.S. would halt its military exercises with South Korea.
