{"id":28916,"date":"2017-08-09T12:40:56","date_gmt":"2017-08-09T19:40:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=28916"},"modified":"2017-08-09T12:40:56","modified_gmt":"2017-08-09T19:40:56","slug":"confronting-a-madman-with-nuclear-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/09\/confronting-a-madman-with-nuclear-weapons\/","title":{"rendered":"Confronting a Madman with Nuclear Weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some may think I’m talking about Kim Jong Un (R-NK).  I’m not.  I don’t think Kim is a madman.  His rhetoric is an act for domestic consumption only.  He and his repressive dynasty have survived only by keeping his people so afraid of everyone else that they don’t see their own leaders as the source of their misery.  He’s not going to nuke South Korea, Japan, or the US.  He knows that, if he did, he would die, and they’d bury what was left of him in a thimble.  Past US leaders have understood this.  But Kim is now treading of very dangerous ground.  He’s confronting a madman with nuclear weapons.<\/font><\/p>\n

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\"0809nuclear_trump\"<\/p>\n

President Trump threatened on Tuesday to unleash \u201cfire and fury\u201d against North Korea if it endangered the United States, as tensions with the isolated and impoverished nuclear-armed state escalated into perhaps the most serious foreign policy challenge yet of his administration.<\/p>\n

In chilling language that evoked the horror of a nuclear exchange, Mr. Trump sought to deter North Korea from any actions that would put Americans at risk. But it was not clear what specifically would cross his line. Administration officials have said that a pre-emptive military strike, while a last resort, is among the options they have made available to the president.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorth Korea best not make any more threats to the United States<\/strong>,\u201d Mr. Trump told reporters at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., where he is spending much of the month on a working vacation. \u201cThey will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen<\/strong>.\u201d… [emphasis added<\/em>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From <NY Times<\/a>><\/font><\/p>\n

Rachel Maddow<\/a> covered this story in two segments.<\/font><\/p>\n