Trump said he and Kim Jong Un had 'good chemistry'

Former President Donald Trump told Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward that he had "good chemistry" with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, The Hill reports, per a clip from Woodward's new audiobook.
In the clip from The Trump Tapes: Bob Woodward's 20 Interviews with President Donald Trump, released Tuesday, the former president can be heard telling Woodward he is "the only one [Kim] deals with."
"The word chemistry. You meet somebody and you have a good chemistry," Trump continued. "You meet a woman. In one second, you know whether or not it's all going to happen." The former president had, during his tenure, met with the North Korean leader personally to push "for peace talks between the U.S., North Korea, and South Korea," The Hill notes.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A clip of the conversation aired on CNN on Monday, and is also included in a opinions essay Woodward penned for the Post.
Speaking with CNN's Jake Tapper, Woodward criticized Trump's cavalier approach toward the "thuggish" Kim, contrasting it with that of former Defense Secretary James Mattis. "I am increasingly baffled the more I hear the casual disconnect, the sense [Trump] has of obligation to himself, I guess, about Kim Jong Un. ... I've never heard another president say anything like that," Woodward told Tapper.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
Trade war with China threatens U.S. economy
Feature Trump's tariff battle with China is hitting U.S. businesses hard and raising fears of a global recession
By The Week US
-
Corruption: The road to crony capitalism
Feature Trump's tariff pause sent the stock market soaring — was it insider trading?
By The Week US
-
China Shock 2.0
Feature An overflow of Chinese goods is flooding the global market. Tariffs won’t stop it.
By The Week US
-
Corruption: The road to crony capitalism
Feature Trump's tariff pause sent the stock market soaring — was it insider trading?
By The Week US
-
How 'China shock 2.0' will roil global markets
Feature An overflow of Chinese goods is flooding the global market. Tariffs won’t stop it.
By The Week US
-
Retribution: Trump calls for prosecution of critics
Feature Trump targets former officials who spoke out against him, sending a warning to future whistleblowers
By The Week US
-
Hegseth reportedly shared war plans in 2nd group text
Speed Read The defense secretary sent information about an attack in Yemen to a Signal group chat that included his wife and brother
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
El Salvador's CECOT prison becomes Washington's go-to destination
IN THE SPOTLIGHT Republicans and Democrats alike are clamoring for access to the Trump administration's extrajudicial deportation camp — for very different reasons
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Supreme Court takes up Trump birthright appeal
Speed Read The New Jersey Attorney General said a constitutional right like birthright citizenship 'cannot be turned on or off at the whims of a single man'
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Court slams Trump, senator visits Ábrego García
Speed Read The case 'should be shocking not only to judges' but all Americans with an 'intuitive sense of liberty'
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
The anger fueling the Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez barnstorming tour
Talking Points The duo is drawing big anti-Trump crowds in red states
By Joel Mathis, The Week US