NBC News foreign correspondent Bill Neely interviewed Syrian President and brutal dictator Bashar Al-Assad that began airing on Wednesday night and, somehow, large portions of the hour-long special were dedicated to harping on Donald Trump’s candidacy, if his lack of foreign policy experience concerned Assad and if his Muslim ban hurt his feelings.

Neely spent the final 15 minutes of the program thoroughly hammering the murderous ruler for gassing his own people and starving much of his population (all of which he denied), but not before spending over nine minutes on the 2016 U.S. presidential election and what he made of Trump.

Neely asked a litany of pathetic questions about Trump that started with “what do you know of Mr. Trump” to what he’s “hearing in the media” to eagerly wanting to know if he’s following the election.

Citing past comments by Trump about Assad being “a bad guy,” the NBC correspondent wanted to know if this “worr[ied] you” to which Assad stated that he’s only concerned about the Syrian people. Eventually, the rapid-fire questioning grew even more desperate:

NEELY: From what you know of Mr. Trump, is he smart enough? ASSAD: I don't know him. I have — when I sit with him face to face, I can judge him, but I only look at the person on the TV. On the TV, you can manipulate everything. You can make, how to say, you can rehearse, you can prepare yourself. That’s not the issue. NEELY: Do you like what you see on TV of Mr. Trump? ASSAD: I don't follow the American election. As I said, cause we don't bet on it, we don't follow it. NEELY: He seems to respect President Putin, does that give you hope that maybe he's a man you can do business with?

Turning to Trump’s Muslim ban, Neely lobbed this softball that allowed Assad to talk up Syria as a country that views “diversity” as “richness”: “Mr. Trump has also made comments about Muslims and not allowing Muslims into the United States. Did that anger you, upset you?”

Staying on Trump, Assad received another pandering question about Trump’s inexperience in foreign affairs: “Mr. Trump has no experience in foreign policy. Does that worry you?”

Naturally, far less time was dedicated to Assad’s thoughts about Clinton but one question about her helped suggest that Trump would someone who could work with Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin:

Well, one difference between them clearly is Mrs. Clinton is determined still to get rid of you, at least that's her stated position. Mr. Trump says, he's focusing on ISIS, leave you alone. That’s a clear difference between the two. Hillary Clinton — well, I'll ask you the question. Does Hillary Clinton represent more of a threat to you than Donald Trump?

The infatuation with asking Assad questions that have nothing to do the ruinous state of affairs in his own country is far from a new strategy employed by the liberal media. Back in 2013, then-ABC’s World News anchor Diane Sawyer dithered away in questioning Assad what was on his i-Pod and country music star Shania Twain.

Similarly, then-NBC’s Today co-host Ann Curry interviewed then-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in September 2011 and lamented his “grueling schedule” to the point that she expressed concern to wonder: “Why do you work so hard?”

The relevant portions of the transcript from NBC News: Syria's President Speaks; An Exclusive Interview with Bashar Al-Assad on July 14 (via MSNBC) can be found below.