Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman jumped back into his wonky brand of basketball diplomacy on Friday with a startling tweet featuring a mocked-up photo of North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat.
“Hoping for this after my two friends and leaders meet next month,” Rodman tweeted. He was referring to Kim’s offer early this month to meet with President Donald Trump, which Trump immediately accepted. No specifics concerning time or place have yet been set.
Rodman hit it off with Kim when he arranged an exhibition game with the Harlem Globetrotters in North Korea in 2013. He has returned to the country for more visits since then and may have spent more time with the North Korean leader than any other American. As for Trump, Rodman appeared on his reality TV series “Celebrity Apprentice.” The former NBA star has been angling to play the go-between for the two men.
“I’ve been trying to tell Donald since day one, ‘Come talk to me, man. ... I’ll tell you what the Marshal [Kim] wants more than anything. ... It’s not even that much,’” Rodman told The Guardian in December. But he said he’d only tell Trump what that is.
Rodman has insisted before that the future president wanted to travel to North Korea. But Trump has a different recollection.
Now the president has changed his tune ― at least about meeting Kim:
Twitter users had a few pithy comments about Rodman’s Kim-in-a-MAGA-hat photo: