Trump says he wanted to make Dennis Rodman envoy to North Korea since NBA legend and Kim Jong-un are great pals
President Donald Trump had thought of sending basketball player Dennis Rodman as an envoy to North Korea owing to the athlete's unlikely friendship with Kim Jong-un. In a chat with Fox Sports Radio on Thursday, September 17, the president revealed that he has considered sending the 59-year-old NBA athlete as a potential candidate to meet with the North Korean dictator as Rodman himself is also quite popular for his 'bad boy' aura.
The Telegraph reported that in response to a question about basketball as a topic of dicussion between him and Kim Jong-un, the president said, “well, he really does like Dennis Rodman." The president's answer was in reference to the three time he has met with the Korth Korean despot, between June 2018 and February 2019. The meetings were reportedly foused on nuclear talks but explaining the discussion on basketball, Trump said "I always said Dennis would be better than some of these stiffs that they used to send to get to know him." He added: "They send these people over and they went to Harvard and were great students... but they have no chemistry whatsoever. And I said we should maybe use him instead of somebody who graduated number one at Harvard, maybe we should use that, I thought about that.”
Rodman who has played for the Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks, is also very popular with the nickname, "the worm." Earlier in 2020, Rodman himself opened up about partying with Kim Jong-un at the leader's secret lair with 'hotties and vodka'. The two's bromance was confirmed by Rodman while he was an ambassador from US to North Korea in 2013. But Rodman wasn't Kim Jong-un's first choice; that spot was reserved by Rodman's former Chicago Bulls teammate Michael Jordan, who had turned the North Korean leader down.
However, Rodman soon found himself as a guest for the party animal. He said: "I've seen the military, I've seen the missiles, I've seen everything." He had also further discussed their first meeting on Mike Tyson's podcast 'Hotboxin''. After that frst ever bonding session, Rodman went on to visit North Korea several times in the future. In 2019, he had even approached the president to allow him to step in to strengthen US' diplomatic ties with North Korea as tension arose between the two over nuclear power.
But Rodman isn't proving to be an asset just for Trump. Elsewhere, Rodman is busy promoting rapper A$AP Ferg's upcoming project, 'Floor Seats II', coming out next Friday, September 25. Ferg pulled out the big guns while making the joyous announcement for the same, as he took to Instagram with Rodman to share the news. With guest appearances from Li'l Wayne and Marilyn Manson, Ferg's track list also includes an homage to the 90s NBA — a collab with Tyga titled after the athlete.
But on the not so sunny side of things, Rodman was also recently spotted breaching safety protocols amid the poandemic, as he wore his mask on his chin while out grocery shopping not that long ago.