Donald Trump has praised the Chinese authoritarian leader Xi Jinping for running China with an "iron fist" in a bizarre campaign rally speech.
Speaking to thousands of supporters to promote two Republican candidates in Wilkes-Barre, northeastern Pennsylvania, former US President Trump said unlike current President Joe Biden, other foreign leaders are at "the top of the game."
In the rambling, nearly two-hour speech, Mr Trump did not spend much time promoting candidates Mehmet Oz and Douglas Mastriano.
Instead he raged about the FBI, Justice Department and media while addressing last month’s raid on his Florida mansion and praising global dictators.
"These [leaders] are central casting and there's nobody that could play the role in Hollywood of President Xi of China. Nobody could play the role, because he is a fierce person.
"He [Xi] rules 1.5 billion people with an iron fist, yeah I'd say he's smart. Wouldn't you say he is smart?" He said to the crowd.
President Xi Jinping of China uses aggressive authoritarianism in the country and is criticised by many. He has created a shocking human rights record and is increasingly making the country an oppressive surveillance state.
He has also recently stoked fears of heightened tension in the area since Xi ordered its largest ever military exercises around Taiwan.
Beijing has also stepped up its propaganda offensive.
Trump once said on Fox News: "He [Xi] is a killer, but I had a great relationship with him.”
He continued at Pennsylvania: "So I am with President Xi and we get along very well... we really had a great relationship. I called him King and he said 'but I am not King' and I said, you are to me you are President for life, it's the same thing."
In Pennsylvania, Trump also repeated his long-standing belief that the 2020 election was “rigged”, claimed the war in Ukraine would not have happened if he was still in office and said Putin never wanted to invade Ukraine.
"I guarantee you one thing, Putin was not going into Ukraine."
He even suggested that he may run again for the US presidency in 2024.
Trump told his supporters: "We are leading Biden and everyone else, including the Republicans, by record numbers in the polls. So I may just have to do it again. You'll be... stay tuned. I have to do it again. May just have to do it again."
Trump dubbed Biden an “enemy of the state,” just 48 hours after Biden denounced what he called anti-democratic forces within the Trump movement.
His remarks came as the midterm elections loom. The results will determine which political party will control Congress and can have an impact on the success of the president’s agenda.
“We’re going to take back America and take back America,” Trump said. “And in 2024, most importantly, we are going to take back our magnificent White House.”
