Trump showers Indian prime minister with bizarre praise: 'Like an American version of Elvis'

President Donald Trump compared India's prime minister to Elvis Presley, and called him the "father" of his country.

The U.S. president gave a news conference Tuesday afternoon alongside Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose right-wing leadership he has frequently praised.

"I remember India before," Trump told reporters, "now not intimately, but I remember India before, it was very torn, there was a lot of dissension, a lot of fighting, and he brought it all together, like a father would bring it together. Maybe he's the father of India, we'll call him the father of India. I think that's not so bad, but he brought things together. You don't hear that anymore."

Another reporter asked Trump about the joint rally they held Sunday in Houston, where the prime minister met with energy companies vying for part of a $100 billion market to diversify the country's power generation.

"Tremendous spirit in that room, and they loved this gentleman to my right, they really do," Trump said. "Those people went crazy. That was like Elvis, that was like an American, he was like an American version of Elvis. It was like we brought in the middle of an all-American -- Elvis Presley came back. That was quite something, they love your prime minister, it's a great thing."