Trump pitches Yankees game outing with Kim Jong Un at Michigan rally

Can America’s favorite pastime help smooth over U.S. relations with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un? Former President Trump joked over the weekend that it might help. 

During a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday, Trump defended the close relationships he developed with adversarial world leaders like the North Korean dictator during his presidency. 

Former President Trump, speaks during the final day of the Republican National Convention, Thursday, July 18, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

"A lot of them didn't like what I was doing to them, but they also knew it was about time. The jig was up, right? It was about time," Trump said at the rally, which took place just a week after he survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. 

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"I have a good relationship with all of them," Trump continued. "That's a good thing. You know, a lot of times the press would say, 'He gets along with Kim Jong Un. North Korea has a lot of nuclear weapons.' I got along with them great. You were never in danger with me as your president. It's a good thing to get along, not a bad thing." 

Trump then joked that to combat Kim Jong Un’s obsession with nuclear weapons, he proposed a hypothetical baseball outing featuring the New York Yankees. 

President Trump meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in Hanoi on Feb. 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

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"I used to tell them, why don't you do something else? All he wants to do is buy nuclear weapons and make them. I said ‘Just relax. Chill. You got enough. You’ve got so much nuclear weapons, so much.’ I said, 'Just relax, go to a nice – let's go to a baseball game.' I'll show you what a baseball [game is]. We'll go watch the Yankees or we'll come watch Michigan at its home opener." 

The unlikely invitation comes amid a rough couple of weeks for the Yankees. New York has lost 19 of their last 28, including a 9-1 defeat to the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday. 

Juan Soto of the Yankees celebrates with teammate Aaron Judge after scoring a run against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium on July 19, 2024, in New York City. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

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"We’re still having our days where we’re scoring a bunch and making it happen," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after Saturday’s loss. "We’ve got to make it happen right now with what we have, and try and piece it together. The reality is there are some good thing happening with guys… we’ve got enough to get it done." 

The Yankees play the Rays Sunday in game three of their four-game series. 

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