Trump takes Dennis Rodman along to Texas and Oklahoma: hope for a meeting with Kim Jong Un

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday spoke to workers at the Peterbilt truck plant in Denton, Texas, before leaving for a campaign rally at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, Oklahoma, as Reuters reports.

Travelling with him in the delegation was former NBA star Dennis Rodman, a former student of the Durant school. Trump told the workers he wants to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un again, but his invitations have gone unanswered.

“When I wanted to get to know Kim Jong Un when we had a problem — Kim Jong Un and I get along well — but the one who knew him best was Dennis Rodman,” Trump told the workers.

Rodman, who sat on a semi-truck wearing a black Chicago Bulls cap, studded black jeans and a T-shirt with his own portrait, then rode in the presidential motorcade to Oklahoma. He told Reuters he hoped to talk to Trump about “life”; asked whether he would go to North Korea soon, he replied: “If you buy the ticket.”

Trump had three high-profile meetings with Kim during his first term, including a visit to the Demilitarized Zone, but there have been none since he returned to the presidency. Trump is expected to attend the APEC forum next month in China, where he could theoretically add a meeting with Kim to the programme.

On Tuesday, at the White House, Trump said: “He likes Trump, he doesn’t like many other people… I’m probably the only person in the world he likes, and I like him.”