Trump praises Egypt's authoritarian dictator

Donald Trump not only received Egypt's authoritarian military dictator Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, but he also praised him. Trump said according to The New York Times:

“We agree on so many things,” Mr. Trump said as he sat beside Mr. Sisi in the Oval Office. “I just want to let everybody know in case there was any doubt that we are very much behind President el-Sisi. He’s done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation. We are very much behind Egypt and the people of Egypt. The United States has, believe me, backing, and we have strong backing.”

Really? Did Trump know about this?:

(Sisi) is known as the leader of the military takeover that removed an elected president, oversaw a vicious security operation in which hundreds of protesters were gunned down in the streets of Cairo and has cemented his authority by filling prisons with his opponents while strangling the free press.

Or this?

The scene provided a powerful counterpoint to Mr. Sisi’s many critics, in Egypt and abroad, for whom he is known as the leader of the military takeover that removed an elected president, oversaw a vicious security operation in which hundreds of protesters were gunned down in the streets of Cairo and has cemented his authority by filling prisons with his opponents while strangling the free press.

Or this?

Yet as he was preparing to meet Mr. Trump on Monday, a court in Cairo sentenced 17 people to jail terms of five years each for taking part in street protests in January 2015.

In Rome, the parents of Giulio Regeni, an Italian postgraduate student found dead in Cairo last year, held a news conference to press their longstanding accusations that Egyptian security officials had abducted, tortured and killed their son, probably on suspicion that he was a spy.

Trump has praised Sisi before. The New York Times points out that in 2016 he said to Fox Business Network that Sis is "a fantastic guy" and that "he took control of Egypt. And he really took control of it".

So there you have it. That sort of authoritarian dictator is what Trump says he agrees with.

PS: Some may say "well, in 2009 Barack Obama invited then Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak". True. But in the context of seeking peace in the Middle East and never praising him. AND Obama always refused to received el-Sisi after the atrocities the new dictator comitted in Egypt.