Repeatedly using the word “stunned,” Rep. Tim Ryan said the visit was a publicity stunt that served to elevate Kim’s stature. | Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo 2020 Elections Tim Ryan savages Trump on North Korea, Huawei

Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio, a Democratic presidential candidate, blasted President Donald Trump on Sunday for his visit to North Korea.

“I think this has been the President Trump appeasement tour,” he said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”


“I have no idea why he is shaking hands with a dictator who just in May was sending missiles into the Sea of Japan,” Ryan told host Maria Bartiromo. “You don’t reward that kind of behavior with a visit to your country from the president of the United States.”

Trump met with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, briefly on Sunday, walking across the North Korean border for their third face-to-face meeting. It was the first time a sitting American president has visited the North.

Repeatedly using the word “stunned,” Ryan said the visit was a publicity stunt that served to elevate Kim’s stature.

“It is historic, but what has been done?” he said to Bartiromo. Later he asked her: “What good faith has been shown?”

Speaking to Brian Stelter on CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” Ryan made similar remarks, comparing Trump’s visit to Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister, going to see Adolf Hitler in 1938 in what proved to be a futile effort to stop Nazi Germany from gobbling up Czechoslovakia or launching a war. Chamberlain’s efforts have come to be seen as a symbol of the dangers of appeasement.

“This is historic — him going to North Korea is like Chamberlain going to talk to Hitler,” Ryan said.

Ryan also expressed anger over the news that Trump intended to loosen sanctions against the Chinese company Huawei Technologies as he tries to resolve differences with China over trade. Huawei has come under fire not only for its business practices but also for posing security risks to the United States.

“I thought that was the one piece that we could count on President Trump to hold the line on for national security reasons,” Ryan said, adding that the president had “folded like a cheap suit” on the issue.