Trump Praises Notion of 'President for Life'

'I think it's great,' Trump says of move by China
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 4, 2018 10:25 AM CST
Trump Praises Notion of 'President for Life'
President Donald Trump pauses during a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House, in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018, with members of congress to discuss school and community safety.   (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

So nice, he said it twice: "President for life." In a closed-door meeting with donors on Saturday, President Trump expressed praise for his Chinese counterpart's ability to kill off term limits, reports CNN. "He's now president for life," Trump says of China's President Xi Jingping. "President for life. No, he's great. And look, he was able to do that. I think it's great. Maybe we'll have to give that a shot some day." It's not clear whether he was kidding, Newsweek notes, and requests for comment from the White House were not returned. Trump also peppered his lengthy talk in the ballroom at Mar-a-Lago with a few political jabs:

  • "It's a rigged system," he says of US politics. "And we don't have the right people in there yet. We have a lot of great people, but certain things, we don't have the right people."
  • "Is Hillary a happy person? Do you think she's happy? When she goes home at night, does she say, 'What a great life?' I don't think so. You never know. I hope she's happy."
  • He calls the Iraq invasion "the single worst decision ever made" and says it was like "throwing a big fat brick into a hornet's nest. That was Bush. Another real genius. That was Bush."
(An expert on China notes that "term limits ... are not usually found in dictatorships.")

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