DC under Trump = Pyongyang on the Potomac!
That was the absurd analogy that CNN This Morning host Audie Cornish tried to make on Tuesday's show. Reacting to the news that there have been no murders in the capital for 12 days running under Trump's crime-fighting moves there, Cornish said as she held up the New York Post:
"Actually, there's probably no murders in North Korea, too."
Comparing America during the Trump administration to the Hermit Kingdom, perhaps the world's most insular, repressive regime, is an outrageous slur.
In fairness, perhaps we misread Audie's intentions. After all, she is an NPR alum, where for 10 years she co-hosted All Things Considered. Could it be that to Cornish, analogizing Trump's America to North Korea was the ultimate compliment?
Cornish and CNN senior politics writer Zach Wolf also had great fun in reaction to Trump's statement that, whereas he dislikes dictators and is not a dictator, "A lot of people are saying, maybe we'd like a dictator."
Snarked Cornish: "No word yet on which Americans actually want a dictator."
Wolf suggested that "the law-and-order crowd" might like the idea of a dictator.
No one can accuse the Democrats of being part of the "law-and-order crowd." Democrats are the people who have abolished cash bail, decriminalized some crimes, declined to prosecute others, and, in their "sanctuary cities," refused to cooperate with federal law enforcement in apprehending illegal immigrants.
Wondered Audie, "Those [the law-and-order crowd] are the people he was referring to? I'm going to look for that in your reporting: people who said, I want a dictator."
Replied Wolf: "Yeah, we're looking for them. Email me if you want a dictator. I'd love to talk to you."
You know who really dug one of the world's worst dictators, Fidel Castro? Liberals like Bernie Sanders, Karen Bass, Jesse Jackson, Harry Belafonte, Colin Kaepernick, Danny Glover, and Oliver Stone, among others. Maybe Wolf should chat with some of them. Don't forget CNN founder Ted Turner!
Note: The show played a clip of Democrat Illinois Governor and presumed 2028 presidential hopeful JB Pritzker condemning Trump's possible plans to send troops to Chicago to beef up law enforcement there:
"Find a family who's enjoying today, sitting on their front porch, and ask if they want their neighborhoods turned into a war zone by a wannabe dictator."
The problem, guv, is that too many Chicago neighborhoods are already war zones. People can't enjoy sitting on their porches for fear of violence. As former Republican aide Ashley Davis mentioned, just this past weekend in Chicago, there were six murders, 27 people injured by gunfire, and $130,000 in merchandise stolen when a group of brazen burglars stormed a Nordstrom store.
Here's the transcript.
CNN This Morning
8/26/25
6:04 am EDTAUDIE CORNISH: It's not enough to have more than 2,000 National Guard troops in D.C. The president just signed an executive order creating specialized units of Guard troops charged with quelling civil disturbances. The order comes as he threatens to send troops into Chicago, and Democratic leaders across the country accuse him of making authoritarian moves.
DONALD TRUMP: And they say, we don't need them. Freedom, freedom. He's a dictator. He's a dictator. A lot of people are saying, maybe we'd like a dictator. I don't like a dictator. I'm not a dictator. I'm a man with great common sense and I'm a smart person.
And when I see what's happening to our cities, and then you send in troops, instead of being praised, they're saying, you're trying to take over the republic. These people are sick.
CORNISH: No word yet on which Americans actually want a dictator.
. . .
The people who perceive cities as fundamentally crime-ridden at all times in all decades think this is a good thing. So here's an example. The New York Post. "O Safe Can You D.C." No murders in the capital since the Trump takeover.
Ashley, there's probably no murders in North Korea, too. But I don't want to be presumptuous.
. . .
But here's the Governor of Illinois in response.
JB PRITZKER: Find a family who's enjoying today, sitting on their front porch and ask if they want their neighborhoods turned into a war zone by a wannabe dictator?
. . .
ZACHARY WOLF: Well, he said he'll do Chicago first. You know, we'll do New York. We'll do Los Angeles. These are places. These are the cities he would like to other for, you know, a lot of the voters that support him.
And then, I think it's interesting, you know, the "I'm not a dictator." It almost strikes me as the "I do not beat my wife" kind of an answer to a question. He clearly doesn't want to be seen as a dictator.
But I also think that, you know, there's the law-and-order crowd might not be that opposed to --
CORNISH: Those are the people he was referring to? I'm going to look for that in your reporting: people who said, I want a dictator.
WOLF: Yeah, we are, we're looking for them. Email me if you want a dictator. I'd love to talk to you.
