Trump's critics amazed, forced to praise him after tough talk brings North Korea to heel

U.S. President Donald Trump answers questions about his response to the violence, injuries and deaths at the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville as he talks to the media in the lobby of Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York, U.S., August 15, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RTS1BXVI (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

When North Korea expressed a willingness to talk denuclearization with the U.S., even some of President Trump’s harshest critics in the mainstream media took notice.

CNN’s “New Day” host Chris Cuomo, an outspoken Trump detractor known for combative interviews with White House surrogates, complimented the president on Tuesday.

“Congratulations to the Trump administration, they were able to move the ball here. Maybe North Korea's not telling the truth, maybe they won’t really do this. But even the suggestion, even the potential offer, is progress,” Cuomo said.

CNN political analyst David Gregory agreed, calling it “potentially historic” and “quite significant.”

The Washington Post noted that Trump’s “madman” approach to North Korea “is getting real credit” and called the news of North Korea willing to discuss scaling back its nuclear program “another possible win” for the administration.

Outspoken Trump critic Ian Bremmer, who is the president of Eurasia Group and a global research professor at New York University, even told the Post that Trump “deserves credit” for North Korea’s about-face.

The Atlantic published a piece headlined, “What if Trump’s North Korea bluster actually worked?” and Bloomberg pointed out that “Trump’s North Korea bluster scores a win” before adding “but at high risk.”

Trump tweeted hours after South Korea’s presidential national security director, Chung Eui-yong, released a statement detailing his rare two-day visit to North Korea. He praised the "possible progress" but remained cautious.

“Possible progress being made in talks with North Korea. For the first time in many years, a serious effort is being made by all parties concerned. The World is watching and waiting! May be false hope, but the U.S. is ready to go hard in either direction!” Trump tweeted.

The New York Times’ reliably liberal editorial board said that “for once” a tweet by President Trump “made sense,” which isn’t exactly a compliment but it’s an improvement over past headlines such as Sunday’s “Donald Trump sure has a problem with Democracy.”

The Hermit Kingdom said that it’s willing to give up its nuclear weapons if military threats against North Korea subsides, Chung said hours after leaving Pyongyang. Chung said the North is ready to have “heart-to-heart” talks with the U.S. about the regime’s potential denuclearization and normalization between the countries.

The comments mark a major change in tone after months of bombastic threats by the rogue regime to keep developing its nuclear and missile program.

“If this happened under Obama, the Nobel Peace Prize would have been shipped by Amazon Prime, next-day, one-touch delivery,” Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld said Tuesday on “The Five.”

Fox News’ Katherine Lam contributed to this report.