Trump claims Democrats 'more unreasonable' than North Korea or Russia

The president called the US Navy Littoral Combat Ship he toured at Wisconsin shipyard 'a yacht with missiles on it'

Donald Trump on Wednesday received a big cheer from shipyard workers in Wisconsin when he charged Democrats with being harder to work with than China, Russia and North Korea.

The president, during a day-long campaign visit to the key swing state he narrowly won four years ago, said the opposition party is “more unreasonable” than any of those strongmen-run states.

He told the crowd a friend recently asked him: “’So which is the toughest nation to deal with? Is it China? Is it possibly Russia? Or is it maybe North Korea?’”

“I said, ‘No, the toughest nation to deal with are the Democrats in the USA.’”

The president then appeared to defend strongmen like Vladimir Putin of Russia, Xi Jinping of China and Kim Jong-un in North Korea.

“The Democrats in the USA are much tougher to deal with than any of these people that we deal with,” he said. “They’re far more unreasonable, and actually they’re a little crazy.”

The lines got several big cheers from the shipyard crowd.

The president was in the state to tape a town hall in Green Bay with Fox News that will air at 9pm ET, and to tour a shipyard in nearby Marienette.

He visited and spoke at the Fincantieri Marinette Marine facility that earlier this year won the first part of a $5bn US Navy contract to start building as many as 10 missile frigate ships.

But, as is the case at just about every official event with less than five months until election day, Mr Trump’s speech about the ships and workers there resembled his usual campaign rally message as he talked about the pre-coronavirus US economy and bounced from topic to topic. The Marinette-based company says it will eventually hire 1,000 more workers.

With the Wisconsin visit, the White House took the president into a Covid-heavy zone. Brown County, which includes Green Bay, has a “high” coronavirus activity level, according to the state’s health department. Marienette County has a “medium” level.

White House officials said all precautions to adhere to Arizona policies were used during his Tuesday visit, and that they would do the same in Wisconsin.

In a light moment, the president called the Littoral Combat Ship he toured ”a yacht with missiles on it”.