Kissinger calls Trump a 'phenomenon that foreign countries haven't seen'

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said in an interview Sunday that President-elect Donald Trump could go down in history as a "very considerable president."

"Donald Trump is a phenomenon that foreign countries haven't seen," Kissinger said on CBS's "Face The Nation."

"So it is a shocking experience to them that he came into office. At the same time, an extraordinary opportunity."

Kissinger said every country now has to consider two things.

"One, their perception that the previous president, or the outgoing president, basically withdrew America from international politics, so that they had to make their own assessments of their necessities," he said.

"And secondly, that here is a new president who's asking a lot of unfamiliar questions. And because of the combination of the partial vacuum and the new questions, one could imagine that something remarkable and new emerges out of it."

When asked if he has a sense about the president-elect's emerging foreign policy vision, Kissinger said he and the billionaire appear to operate differently, but offered some praise for the issues Trump has raised.

"I think he operates by a kind of instinct that is a different form of analysis as my more academic one," Kissinger said.

"But he's raised a number of issues that I think are important, very important. And if they're addressed properly, could lead to good — great results."

This article was originally published at www.TheHill.com