North Korea…
Donald Trump has issued a stark warning to North Korea, saying that the US will “totally destroy” them if they proceed with nuclear weapons.
Politics
“Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime,” Trump said of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a speech Tuesday at the United Nations. Calling the communist leader’s continued pursuit of nuclear arms “reckless,” Trump promised that the US is prepared to take military action.
“The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea,” Trump said almost directly to the North Korean delegation, which was sitting in the front row. Kim’s nuclear ambitions threaten “the entire world with unthinkable loss of human life,” he added, prompting whispers among the traditionally silent global delegates.
His words came on a day when “The Donald” suggested he may consider shooting down North Korean ballistic missiles, even if they don’t directly threaten the US or its allies. According to United Nations expert Richard Gowan, the “Rocket Man” jab was “made for television,” but surely “must have unnerved a lot of foreign leaders.”
It certainly had an effect on the North Korean Ambassador to the UN, who walked out on Trump and his rhetoric.
Next, Trump took aim at Iran, calling it a “murderous regime” and accusing its government of continuing to seek nuclear weapons, despite an agreement with the US and its allies not to do so. He then took the nearly unprecedented step of publicly berating his predecessor by calling the Iranian nuclear deal negotiated under Barack Obama an “embarrassment.”
“The Iran deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into,” Trump told the UN General Assembly. “Frankly, that deal is an embarrassment to the United States and I don’t think you have heard the last of it, believe me.”
“We cannot let a murderous regime continue these destabilizing activities while building dangerous missiles, and we cannot abide by an agreement if it provides cover for the eventual construction of a nuclear program,” he added.
Trump also used the speech to outline his “America First” foreign policy agenda.
“I will always put America first, just like you, as the leaders of your countries, will always and should always put your countries first,” Trump said. However, he hinted that “America First” doesn’t have to mean America acts alone and that it would still need help.
Trump then pledged to crush “loser terrorists” throughout the Middle East, to hold Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro accountable for imposing a “disastrous” authoritarian rule on his people, and to complain about how many conflict zones around the world are “going to hell.”
Politics
Not surprisingly, the nearly 40-minute speech drew criticism from many of Trump’s political opponents.
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California said the United Nations General Assembly is normally a forum to “foster peace and promote global cooperation” and objected to Trump using it “as a stage to threaten war.”
Additionally, world leaders at the UN took offense to Trump’s suggestion that he might nullify the Iran agreement, insisting that such an act would lead to a nuclear-armed Iran and possibly a nuclear arms race throughout the Middle East.
In his address to the UN, French President Emmanuel Macron said walking away would be a “grave error.”
After hearing of “The Donald’s” threats, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that if Trump backs out of the 2015 nuclear deal, “no one will trust America again.”
Is Donald Trump’s bombastic talk against North Korea and Iran good for America? Or could he be backing the US into a corner, making world nations reluctant to trust America’s word ever again, and potentially setting the US up for war?
I have to agree I don’t think this was the place to talk all that madness. Trump’s mouth is going to end up getting us in trouble.