President Trump made an extraordinary announcement on Friday that he rejected sanctions imposed by the U.S. Treasury Department on North Korea and that he had “ordered the withdrawal of those additional sanctions.”

The White House followed those surprising remarks with an even odder statement. “President Trump likes Chairman Kim, and he doesn’t think these sanctions will be necessary," press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters.

We grant that there are plenty of reasons the president might want to remove sanctions as a tool of diplomacy, which always involves well-timed sticks and carrots. But clearly it's odd, and seemingly impetuous, to overturn sanctions put in place just the day before, particularly if it is partly on the grounds of personally “liking” a foreign leader.

To make matters worse, the particular leader Trump has singled out as the object of his affection is the most evil dictator on Earth. Murderous totalitarian dictator Kim Jong Un is famous for starving his own people in a country he runs as a concentration camp while threatening nuclear attacks on the U.S.

Dealing with dictators is an unsavory necessity of diplomacy. Praising dictators is another question. The United States' moral authority is too valuable to fritter it away on kind words for despots.

The best conceivable defense of these comments, that Trump is practicing realpolitik by sweet-talking Kim, is undermined by Trump's past. Trump has been far too friendly to Vladimir Putin, has praised Rodrigo Duterte, and has provided cover for Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The evidence suggests Trump is too fond of military strongmen.

Specifically, Trump has praised these men for their authoritarian tendencies. Trump has expressed envy for Duterte's repressive law enforcement tactics. He has lauded Putin as "strong." He has admired aloud Kim's ability to seize power in the slave state of North Korea. These gratuitous words all corrode the cause of peace and human rights.

Again, there are substantive arguments both for and against specific sanctions that the Treasury imposed Thursday and Trump lifted Friday. But if Trump is serious about ending the nuclear threat posed by North Korea, or frankly any of his other myriad foreign policy goals, he needs to base his decisions on actual policy, not his personal whims and tastes.