He’s fought in Iraq, so enduring the likely wrath of Donald Trump that is likely to come his way may seem easier.
Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger today blasted Trump for taking a shot at former Vice President Joe Biden while praising North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Kinzinger, an Air Force veteran who served in Iraq twice and remains in the Illinois National Guard, complained about a tweet the president posted on Memorial Day weekend.
Kinzinger, who also served in Afghanistan, frequently speaks on military matters and serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
It’s Memorial Day Weekend and you’re taking a shot at Biden while praising a dictator. This is just plain wrong. https://t.co/2ONOGEmy39
— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) May 26, 2019
Members of both parties criticized the president after he tweeted yesterday that Biden is a “low IQ individual,” while misspelling his name.
Another Republican, Sen. Joni Ernst (Iowa), said she “certainly wouldn’t trust” Kim.
Ernst, who is also a veteran and serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said she was disturbed by North Korea’s recent missile test as well as by Trump’s reaction.
“I think Japan does have reason to be concerned, and I am concerned as well,” she said. “We need to see North Korea back off of those activities, and we need to take a very strong stance on that.”
The issue arose after Trump, who is on a state visit to Japan, tweeted that North Korea’s recent missile tests were not of concern, contradicting a recent statement by national security adviser John Bolton.
South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, said that when Trump met with Kim last year in Singapore and this year in Hanoi, “he was handing North Korea something that country needed, which was legitimacy.”
“And the way diplomacy works — the way deals work — is you give someone something in return for something,” Buttigieg said. “It hasn’t worked at all.”
Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, a member of the party’s leadership on Capitol Hill, side stepped the question when asked about it twice on ABC’s ‘This Week.’
‘I think that what we have seen so far with this president with respect to North Korea is that he’s doing the right thing in terms of the policy,’ she said.
Biden’s campaign today pointed to a statement it made last week in response to remarks by North Korea’s state-run news agency that Biden has a low IQ, which itself was a response to Biden’s criticism of the regime.
In that statement, Biden spokesman Andrew Bates said Trump has “been repeatedly tricked in to making major concessions to the murderous regime in Pyongyang while getting nothing in return.”
“Given Vice President Biden’s record of standing up for American values and interests, it’s no surprise that North Korea would prefer that Donald Trump remain in the White House,” Bates said.