WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has rekindled his relationship with "The Worm" ‒ Dennis Rodman, that is ‒ raising speculation whether the former NBA star can help produce a meeting that Trump wants with Kim Jong Un of North Korea.
Rodman, widely considered the greatest rebounder in NBA history, who also gained notoriety for his wild outfits, dyed hair and tattoos, appeared with Trump during a pair of Oct. 1 campaign rallies in Denton, Texas and Durant, Oklahoma, where Rodman played collegiate basketball at Southeastern Oklahoma State University.
Rodman, a reality TV star after his NBA career, formed an unlikely friendship with Kim more than a decade ago, making multiple trips to North Korea between 2013 and 2017, amid heightened tensions with the
United States over the country's nuclear program.
Trump on Aug. 19 said he plans to meet with Kim later this year, but the North Korean leader has reportedly rebuffed the president's overtures.
"You know, when you think you're tall and you stand next to Dennis Rodman, you're not so tall anymore," Trump said at a truck factory in Texas as he recognized the former NBA star in attendance. "He is the greatest guy. I've known him for so long," the president added as he echoed NBA legend Michael Jordan and others who call Rodman "the greatest rebounder in the history of basketball."
Then Trump referenced Rodman's relationship with Kim, who Trump met with three times during his first time.
"You know, when I wanted to get to know Kim Jong Un, when were having a problem ‒ Kim Jong Un and I get along ‒ but the one who knew him best was Dennis Rodman," Trump said. "He's a special guy."
Rodman appears with Enes Freedom in Oklahoma
The White House did not say why Rodman was part of Trump's entourage for the campaign rallies, which took place as the president is working to boost Republicans' hopes in the November midterm election.
As Rodman left Texas to ride in the president's motorcade to Oklahoma, he told Reuters that he hoped to speak with Trump about “life.” Asked if he was going to North Korea any time soon, Rodman responded: “If you buy the ticket.”
Rodman wore a black Chicago bulls hat, black sunglasses, studded black jeans and a black t-shirt with a picture of himself holding an NBA Finals trophy. In Oklahoma, he appeared with former NBA basketball player Freedom Freedom (previously known as Enes Kanter), a conservative activist who has declared himself eligible for the WNBA to make a political point about transgender athletes.
"I'm giving them a full pardon that they can go into women's sports any time they want," Trump said. "And I guarantee you when they do ‒ even though they're slightly older, although Freedom looks like he's pretty young ‒ they will break every record in the history of women's sports."
Trump meeting with Kim still not set
As he pursues a meeting with Kim, Trump has signaled plans to revive his first-term push for the North Korean leader to abandon his country's nuclear weapons program. In recent weeks, Trump has touted his close relationship with Kim and directed the Pentagon to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea, a U.S. ally and North Korean adversary that Trump has pressed to pay more for its defense.
"The fact that I get along with him ‒ that's a good thing, not a bad thing," Trump told reporters in August, referring to Jim. "He has 57 very powerful nuclear weapons. Should have never allowed it to happen. If I was president, I wouldn't have allowed it to happen. But he's got them."
The Wall Street Journal reported Trump has privately discussed a face-to-face meeting with Kim at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in Shenzhen, China, set for Nov. 18 and 19. No meeting has been set, however.
Trump' three first-term meetings with Kim each came, controversially, without setting preconditions. The two men met in 2019 at the Korean demilitarized zone in which Trump briefly stepped across the military demarcation line into North Korea.
Trump's diplomatic efforts, however, failed to result in a deal for Kim to ditch his country's arsenal of nuclear weapons in exchange for reductions of economic sanctions.
Contributing: Reuters
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump reunites with Dennis Rodman as he seeks Kim Jong Un meeting
