Trump has made his most dangerous blunder yet
The news was not completely unexpected — though many experts expected it a year or so from now:
A new U.S. intelligence assessment concludes North Korea has developed the ability to build a nuclear warhead small enough to fit on top of a ballistic missile, including an intercontinental missile that can reach the United States, CBS News’ David Martin has confirmed.
If that’s true, North Korea has reached a crucial milestone towards developing a nuclear weapon able to threaten the continental United States. U.S. intelligence has also estimated North Korea has enough nuclear material to build dozens of weapons. The last time North Korea conducted a nuclear test, the estimated yield was roughly twice that of the bomb the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
To cross the final threshold in developing a nuclear weapon capable of hitting the U.S., North Korea will still need to develop a reentry vehicle that can withstand the heat and the vibration of reentering the earth’s atmosphere, and develop the means to accurately target the warhead, Martin reports.
That last part has gone underreported, and its omission is causing a general freakout in the media and the public.
And, of course, former reality-show celebrity Donald Trump made matters worse by saying:
North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. He has been very threatening beyond a normal state, and as I said they will be met with fire and fury and, frankly, power the likes of which this world has never seen before. Thank you.
There is almost no question that Trump got bad advice on what to say from the most reactionary and fanatical faction of his advisors.
Trump employed wording that one would expect from Filipino strongman Rodrigo Duterte or Venezuela’s fascistic Maduro, not the man who leads the strongest nation in the world.
Trump sounded as belligerent, childish, and – to be blunt – weak as North Korea’s obnoxious, pudgy dictator Kim Jong-un. Even an attempted attack on the United States by North Korea would be suicidal – though it would likely also unleash enormous collateral damage in human cost and economic damage in the region.
Trump is unable to manage his mouth, let alone his branch of the U.S. government, which still does not have an ambassador to North Korea.
Here are seceral tweets reacting to Trump’s outburst:
I hope and pray for wisdom and restraint for our leaders in dealing with the North Korean threat, which has been long in the making.
— Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) August 8, 2017
But her emails pic.twitter.com/VTt7B1UAmE
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) August 8, 2017
Hey, how are people feeling about that “Let’s have people who know nothing about government run government” idea they were pushing?
Good?
— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) August 8, 2017
Trump’s “fire and fury” comment is oddly similar to one by President Ryan in Tom Clancy’s Executive Orders. Speechwriter has a thesaurus?
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) August 8, 2017
If you were president, what would you have said? Join us in comments on our Facebook page.
