Donald Trump Seems OK With Putin Killing Journalists; ‘At Least He’s A Leader’

Donald Trump, the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, seems to be quite flattered with an endorsement from Russian President Vladimir Putin, and not too concerned the endorsement comes from a man who routinely kills journalists in his country.

The controversy comes after Putin on Thursday called Trump “very talented,” and the “absolute leader of the presidential race.” Trump called the endorsement, “a great honor.”

On Friday morning’s Morning Joe on MSNBC, hosts Joe Scarborough and Miki Brzezinski got Trump on a phone call and asked him about Putin’s praise.

“When people call you brilliant, that’s always good, especially when the person heads up Russia.”

Scarborough, a former congressman, responded, unamused, “Well, I mean, also it’s a person that kills journalists, political opponents, and invades countries. Obviously, that would be a concern, would it not?”

Trump seemingly had no qualms about these authoritarian traits.

“He’s running his country and at least he’s a leader. You know, unlike what we have in this country,” responded Trump.

Scarborough pressed Trump on “killing journalists that don’t agree with him,” seeking clarification from Trump on whether he thought that was acceptable.

“I think our country does plenty of killing also, Joe…There’s a lot of stupidity going on in the world right now, Joe. A lot of killing going on and a lot of stupidity and that’s the way it is,” he said.

Scarborough asked Trump if he condemned the killing of journalists, to which Trump responded, “Oh sure, absolutely.”