Donald Trump today praised Russia, China and North Korea heads saying that they are at the top of their game and the US needs a strong president to tackle them.
"(Vladimir) Putin, Xi (Jinping), Kim Jong Un are at the top of their game," Trump said during an interview with Elon Musk being streamed on X (formerly Twitter).
He said that these leaders, who are often referred to as dictators, love their country, but "it is a different form of love".
Referring to Biden as "sleepy Joe", Trump also claimed Russia wouldn't have invaded Ukraine if it hadn't been for Biden.
"I got along with Putin very well, and he respected me. We would talk about Ukraine. It was the apple of his eye. But I told him don't do it," he claimed.
The interview began more than 40 minutes after the scheduled start time due to tech glitches. Musk blamed the difficulties on a distributed denial-of-service attack, a type of cyber attack in which a server or network is flooded with traffic in an attempt to shut it down, though his claim was not confirmed.
The conversation is intended to help reinvigorate Trump's stuttering campaign, which has flagged since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
Musk, who has said he previously voted Democrat, has thrown his weight — and his wealth — behind Trump since a gunman tried to assassinate the Republican at a rally last month.
