Beyond his chilling comments about NBC and anchor Chuck Todd, Donald Trump’s 30-minute chat with his Fox & Friends BFFs proved that he’s more interested in what people say about him on television than his own policy toward North Korea.

In fairness to cohosts Brian Kilmeade and Ainsley Earhardt, they tried to get Trump to discuss North Korea, Mike Pompeo’s recent meeting with Kim Jong-un there and Trump’s own possible meeting with Kim. But Trump quickly transitioned to attacking the Obama administration and boasting about himself. He offered only a few odd, vague bits about Pompeo’s meeting, including the claim that it was not supposed to have happened.

But Trump was way more focused and more lucid whining about his television coverage. He seems particularly obsessed with smearing NBC’s Chuck Todd as “Sleepy eyes Chuck Todd.”

KILMEADE: So it was just a hello [between Pompeo and Kim], Mr. President?

TRUMP: No, it was more than a hello. They got along. They were with each other for, you know, more than an hour.

DOOCY: Right.

TRUMP: They spoke and he also spoke with his counterparts in North Korea. They had a great meeting. He then left. It was very, very secret — very, very quiet. They had a great meeting — he left. And, you know, when I watch — like I watched sleepy eyes Chuck Todd the other day saying why is the president giving up so much and North Korea’s giving up nothing? This was at the beginning of “MEET THE PRESS,” which, I mean, this guy shouldn’t even be —

KILMEADE: Right.

TRUMP: — on the show. So I said to myself well, wait a minute, I’m seeing it just the opposite. I haven’t given up anything. I haven’t even talked about it. I haven’t given up anything. We’re not giving up much.

Earhardt tried to steer the subject back to North Korea. But Trump was too obsessed with his television image – while insisting he never watches the “fake news” that treats him so unfairly.

EARHARDT: When are you going to meet with him?

TRUMP: I’m not giving up much. They’ve given up denuclearization, testing, research. We’re going to close different sites. And I’m saying to myself, wait a minute. All of these things he’s given up and we haven’t even really that much asked them because we would have asked them but they gave it before I even asked. So I have this guy, fake news — he’s on television saying why am I giving up something? I never gave up anything. The people have to understand how dishonest the news is. And in all fairness to Fox, you guys don’t always treat me great but you treat me fairly. You know, it’s not like Fox is perfect for me. They’re not — they’re tough but at least it’s fair. When you look at some of the others — you look at like a CNN, they’ll have a council of seven people and of the seven people every one of them is against me. I’m saying, where do we — where do they even find these people? I appreciate the —

KILMEADE: I’m not your doctor, Mr. President, but I would — I would recommend you watch less of them.

TRUMP: I don’t watch them at all. I watched last night.

DOOCY: Well, that makes it easy.

TRUMP: I’ll tell you what. I watched leaking, lying Comey last night and I did — I did — I hated to do it. You know, one of the reasons people say you’re still looking good, Mr. President. How do you do it? Well, one of the things I’ve been able to do, which is something I never thought I had the ability — I would always watch when I was — now, frankly, I don’t have time for two reasons. There’s too much and I don’t have time. But I would watch — whether it’s good or bad, I’d always watch.  I have an ability — I don’t watch NBC anymore. They’re as bad as CNN. I don’t — and by the way, I made them a fortune with “THE APPRENTICE.” Think of that one. I made them — and I did 19 episodes (ph).

DOOCY: Your alma mater.

TRUMP: No, but I made them a fortune.

DOOCY: Right.

TRUMP: You would think that these guys would treat me great. I made them a fortune. So they treat me horribly —

DOOCY: OK.

TRUMP: — and they treat me falsely. But just one thing. I don’t watch things now. I can put it out of my mind and I never, ever thought that that would be possible. And you know what that does? It keeps you on the ball. It keeps you — you keep your sanity and it works very well. But last night I did watch —

EARHARDT: Mr. President, I have one question.

TRUMP: I did watch a liar-leaker and his performance, by the way, was horrible. And I will say this. Anderson Cooper was surprisingly tough and he did a good job.

DOOCY: He did.

EARHARDT: Mr. President, real quickly, have you decided on a date to meet with Kim Jong Un?

So, Donald Trump announced he thinks he is owed “great” treatment from a news network and the Fox “News” hosts signal they have no problem with that authoriatrianism.

Watch this tragedy below, from the April 26, 2018 Fox & Friends, via Media Matters.

(Transcript excerpts via The Washington Post, with minor copy edits)

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