(CNSNews.com) – “Nuclear warming” is a far greater threat to the world than global warming, “and all it takes is one madman and you’re going to have a problem the likes of which the world has never seen,” former President Trump said in an interview aired on Tuesday.
In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, the 2024 Republican presidential candidate expressed concern about the prospect of nuclear war, mused over his dealings with autocratic leaders, and decried that state of world affairs since he left office.
Jumping between topics, Trump recalled his “little rocket man” spat with Kim Jong Un and then their subsequent summits, expressed surprise that French President Emmanuel Macron was cozying up to Chinese President Xi Jinping – “kissing his ass” was the term he used – and said the Saudi crown prince had fist bumped President Biden during his visit to the kingdom last year because he didn’t want to shake Biden’s hand.
On the nuclear threat, Trump said that the weapons wielded by Russia and the United States – and increasingly by the Chinese – were 500 times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.
“When I listen to people talk about global warming, that the ocean will rise in the next 300 years by one-eighth of an inch, and they talk about ‘this is our problem.’ Our big problem is nuclear warming. I mean, nobody even talks about it.”
“The biggest problem we have in the whole world, it’s not global warming,” he repeated. “It’s nuclear warming.”
After Trump stressed the need to “de-escalate” in the context of nuclear threats, Carlson asked him, “so how would you do that now?”
“Well now – see, you have a problem,” Trump replied. “You got this crazy world, it’s blowing up and the United States has absolutely no say. And Macron – who’s a friend of mine – is over with China, kissing his ass, okay, in China!”
The French president stoked controversy as he ended a state visit to China by telling reporters European countries were at risk of being caught up in “crises that are not ours,” suggesting that Europe should not be drawn in to a potential U.S.-China conflict over Taiwan.
On his diplomacy with Kim, Trump remembered a tweet he sent to the North Korean dictator, whom he had famously nicknamed “little rocket man,” about America’s nuclear arsenal.
“He said, ‘I have a button on my desk, a red button.’ And I said, ‘I have a red button on my desk too. Mine’s bigger and mine works. Yours doesn’t.’”
Trump sent the tweet after Kim said in a New Year 2018 speech that he had a nuclear launch button on his desk, and the world should accept the reality of a nuclear-armed North Korea.
That same speech signaled the beginning of a policy shift, however, laying the groundwork for a thaw with South Korea, a moratorium on ballistic missile launches, and the historic summits with Trump.
Trump said the logjam had eventually broken, and Kim wanted a meeting. “And we did meet, and we get along great. To this day we get along great.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Trump recalled telling Chinese President Xi Jinping – over after-dinner chocolate cake at Mar-a-Lago – that the U.S. had just fired 57 cruise missiles at military targets in Syria (in response to an April 2017 chemical weapons attack the U.S. blamed on the Assad regime.)
Trump recalled that Xi had responded with one word, in English: “Repeat!”
He said it was the one time that Xi’s reaction revealed that he probably understood English – even though he used an interpreter all the time.
In response to a question, Trump described the Chinese leader as “a brilliant man” and “top of the line” smart.
“They’re all top of the line,” he said, then in a swipe at his successor in the White House, added, “Our guy’s not top of the line. Never was.”