- Donald Trump Jr. said his father's flattery of world leaders like Russia's Vladimir Putin doesn't equate to "capitulation."
- Trump Jr. said his father knows how to deal with "powerful men" who might "blow up deals over ego."
- "He knew exactly how to play these guys, and he played it like a fiddle," said Trump Jr.
Donald Trump Jr. said on Wednesday that the praise his father, former President Donald Trump, showered on world leaders like China's Xi Jinping, North Korea's Kim Jong Un, and Russia's Vladimir Putin was all part of a strategy to "play" them.
In a video posted on his Rumble account, Trump Jr. said his father is someone who knows how to deal with "powerful men" and that he "had it right all along" when it came to dealing with foreign leaders.
"So my father understands that, you know, men will blow up deals over ego. I've seen it my whole life, and my father's certainly seen it. Because he's dealt with powerful, egotistical people his entire life. He's built a brand around dealing with those people. World leaders aren't any different," Trump Jr. said.
"He knew exactly how to play these guys, and he played it like a fiddle," he added, while also noting that his father's flattery of foreign leaders was not an act of "capitulation."
Appearing to mock Trump's dissenters, Trump Jr. described a typical critic as "some nerd in his mom's basement who's never dealt with anything, never actually had any power, never understood those people."
Trump has praised authoritarian world leaders like Putin and Xi even after leaving office.
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine loomed, the former president lauded Putin's justification for invading Ukraine as "savvy" and "genius." On February 24, the day of Russia's invasion, he released a statement on Twitter — via his spokeswoman Liz Harrington — claiming that Putin was "playing [President Joe] Biden like a drum."
During his presidency, Trump also claimed that he and Kim had fallen "in love" and harped on the "beautiful letters" he received from the North Korean leader.
