Fox host points out 'common thread' in Trump's relationship with other leaders

Donald Trump has spoken out about his relationship with Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and other controversial leaders.

Speaking in an interview with Fox News host Mark Levin, the former president promoted his new book 'Letters to Trump,' a collection of 150 private letters sent to him by international leaders, celebrities and other prominent figures.

Levin said he had noticed “a common thread" with letters Trump had received from leaders like Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un.

“You had a personal relationship with every one of these leaders, whether they’re genocidal maniacs, whether they’re elected, like [Shinzo Abe] of Japan,” Levin said. “And I want to get into some of this. What would you say your foreign policy is? Because I think people keep projecting onto your foreign policy what it is that they think they want people to think your foreign policy is.”

Trump replied: “It was a very personal relationship and you know, sort of a weird situation. The tougher they were, the better I got along with them.”

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“And that’s probably a good thing because it was the tough ones that had the big powerful countries, the ones that can do destruction,” he added.

‘Letters to Trump’ also includes private correspondence with former presidents including Barack Obama, George W Bush and Richard Nixon, along with celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jackson.

“We had lots of great letters from lots of great people and not-so-great people, to be honest with you,” Trump told reporters in a phone call last month to discuss the book.

“But they’re very famous people. And probably there’s never been such diversity as this in terms of people where the letters come from and who they come from."

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