‘W.T.F.?’ Trump’s ‘Fire & Fury’ North Korea Threat Leaves Lawmakers Dumbfounded

Right, so obviously, Donald Trump doesn’t think before he says things.

Everything is a throw away comment. It’s all off-the-cuff.

His entire campaign, and indeed his presidency up to this point, has been the very definition of “making shit up as you go along.”

He has no concept whatsoever of the extent to which when you’re the President, you can’t just wing it. And the reason you can’t just wing it, is that when you hold the most powerful office on the face of the planet, the things you say have consequences.

Think back, for instance, to that infamous February 9 meeting Trump had with airline executives when he said this about tax reform and about his agenda more generally:

It’s coming along very well. We’re way ahead of schedule. We’re going to be announcing something I would say over the next two or three weeks that will be phenomenal in terms of tax and developing our aviation infrastructure.

Markets moved on that and his entire staff had to scramble around and figure out how to meet a deadline they never knew they had until he opened his mouth.

Since the beginning, the worry has always been that one of Trump’s random remarks would end up having dire consequences. And that brings us to this afternoon’s impromptu fire and brimstone soundbite:

In case you want to make a fun poster, Politico has a mock-up for you:

WHat

Now for one thing, that statement is so hyperbolic that if you didn’t know he said it, it would be easy to mistake it for something that Kim said. Have a look at the juxtaposition between that, and the rhetoric out of Pyongyang following the sanctions announcement:

Trump: They will be met with fire and fury like … the world has never seen. Frankly, power the likes of which the world has never seen before.

Kim: This is a heinous plot to isolate and stifle us [and] we will take an action of justice.

If you didn’t know who said what, it would be impossible to know for sure which one of those ridiculous statements came from North Korea and which one came from the United States.

That’s how silly this has gotten.

And speaking of North Korean propaganda, here’s the official response to Trump:

The preemptive attack threatened by the U.S. will be foiled by the Korean style preemptive attack which will be mounted earlier

The provocative ‘preventive war’ the U.S. has devised and plans to execute will be countered with a just all-out war of wiping out all the strongholds of the enemies including the U.S. mainland.

The nuclear war hysteria of the U.S. authorities including Trump has reached an extremely reckless and rash phase.

Needless to say, lawmakers are incredulous.

“President Trump is not helping the situation with his bombastic comments,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein said this afternoon.

“I’m not sure how it helps,” John McCain added – and do note that’s John McCain, a man who isn’t exactly opposed to blowing something up.

As for Kellyanne Conway, she had this to offer:

There you go. “Strong and obvious.”

And also out-of-this-world crazy.

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26 thoughts on “‘W.T.F.?’ Trump’s ‘Fire & Fury’ North Korea Threat Leaves Lawmakers Dumbfounded

  1. Let’s review a bit..Diane Feinstein was present physically, if not mentally, for President Obama’s 8 years of ineffectual dealings with North Korea..and yet Trump is bombastic? Maybe that’s not such a bad approach.
    A miniaturized nuclear device is a HUGE step towards a capable nuclear arsenal. Oh wait..my bad..we really should be more conciliatory and reasoned..where’s Jimmy Carter? Please wake Jimmy up..we need him.

    1. Assuming claims that North Korea has developed a deliverable nuclear weapon are correct, it’s a little bit too late for over-the-top bombast.

      And no, I don’t think it’s crazy to think one should take a reasoned approach where weapons of mass destruction are concerned.

  2. Well greg you are just a wee bit daft. Please tell me you didn’t prop up Mr. President Crazy with a slight to former President Carter? The same President Carter who is one of the finest humans on our planet. A small amount of reading will keep you from making such completely idiotic statements. N. Korea is not just a few sound bites kind of problem, you do realize there are 30-40 million people within a sling shot of Kim and his arsenal of death? So yes, a little diplomacy just might be called for here.

  3. Diplomacy? 20 years of failed diplomacy and you have the ignorance to say more diplomacy is needed? I am stunned at how pervasive ignorance is among the current critics of Trump and his saber rattling with NK. Your comments are the perfect sound byte before a NK missle is launched up your arses. Why even bother discussing this any further. We all have it figured out, granted opposing views, but both expressed with a conviction that will not change.

    1. If your proposed alternative to diplomacy was war, the time for that presumably passed at the point when North Korea figured out how to make a usable nuclear weapon and missile system.

      Which leaves… diplomacy.

      Why would the North Koreans start a nuclear war that would lead to their own annihilation? Their leadership isn’t irrational. In fact, it’s probably more obsessed with self-preservation than almost any other regime on the planet.

  4. Discussion is the bane of non-communication. You think NK is serious I think they are full of sh*t. Our weak president has zero clue in dealing with that part of the world. China is laughing at us and your idiotic statement. They want NK to push Trump, you don’t get it my friend.. Do you really think NK wants to commit suicide lose China as a trading partner and somewhat ally. The escalation is only serious if “numskull” Trump participates. We can work WITH China and keep NK in a box. That fool Kim can test all the missiles he wants because he will not kill himself unless some idiot pushes the wrong button(s).

  5. I applaud sixth estate.
    I am still living through what has become my burden from over 40 years ago.
    We, sorry, they, our Presidents of that age could not envision what that small Asian country could do to the future of our nation.
    As I see it, we have not learned anything.
    We may repeat history, if so, we, no he, is the fool.

    1. I applaud you for your service. Any opinion from a vet is worthy of respect. I am embarrassed how our country treated our service men and women upon their return from Nam. Thank you to you and your family for your sacrifices.

  6. It’s so funny how people like Trump, so willing to send other’s into harm’s way, demean diplomacy. 70 years of so-called failed diplomacy has kept NK from moving into soul where 25,000,000 and 150,000 Americans reside. 70 years of so-called failed diplomacy has kept the NK from using its artillery, i.e., more than 8000 heavy and medium guns, special operations forces numbering more than 200,000 and trained to launch fanatically aggressive (often suicidal) raids, and chemical weapons including 2500 to 5000 tonnes of Sarin and VX nerve agent, they could inflict huge damage, and it’s 1.1 million man army. And the threat is made worse by the fact that nearly half of South Korea’s population lives within 50 miles of North Korea.

    In the same fashion, Obama’s failed diplomacy got Iran to give up its nuclear program.
    In the same fashion, Clinton’s failed diplomacy got Libya to give up its nuclear program, chemical weapons ingredients and stockpile of chemical weapons.

    NK is not the biggest existential threat to SK, this guy is:

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    This past Saturday, with the use of diplomacy, the UN imposed the most severe sanctions ever on NK. Even though it’s arguable that the sanctions may have no effect, waiting only five days for the sanctions to have an impact before Trump used his big mouth to set the world on fire does no one any good. It makes you think that perhaps the FBI might have served a search warrant on Jared and Ivanka’s home yesterday imorning.

  7. Trump is responding to this NK matter exactly as he has responded to insults and comments towards him personally all his life. He will tell you to get even with anyone who insults you, hurts you, sues you, etc., and get even in a bigger meaner more destructive way — really hurt them, damage them financially if possible. It is his method of revenge that excites him and pleases him. He is absolutely a dangerous man because he has no ethics and no morals, no limits. He has no compassion or empathy for another human being. Marty did an outstanding job of defining trump’s character and personality in another posting earlier today and he was dead on correct.

    I also agree with the rest of you guys who said Kim will not back down but he will also not throw the first bomb. I fully believe Trump is capable of throwing the first bomb. We need to do whatever we can do to eliminate that from happening RIGHT NOW. Trump will also use whatever he has available to him to avoid being caught, exposed, or proven to be a criminal. Seriously.

    – Murphy

    1. You have it right, Murphy. Yet now the biggest problem is that the NK hoodlums are seriously made off-balance by Destructo, and as many have said and written, an inadvertent or false signal can inform NK that its being attacked and that can set off a war. Yesterday, like no day before it, Destructo made it as clear as never before that he has no frontal lobe, that his mouth is directly connected to an unbridled ego with no stops in between and humanity be damned. The fact that he immediately puts his entire family and fortune at risk is powerful evidence that he lacks any impulse or mind control, and is a danger to everyone in the world. In many of previous comments I have seriously (and with attempted humor) addressed my thinking that he suffers from major personality disorders concurrently with serious brain disorders that compels that he be removed from office and that he be examined by a neurologist and psychiatrist. With each passing day the evidence become so overwhelming that this is what we have before us.

      By this time Dr. Jackson MUST know he has a mental case on his hands but I suspect he fears for his life should he say so.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physician_to_the_President

      http://www.navy.mil/navydata/bios/bio.asp?bioID=953

      1. In a nut shell, you are saying that diplomacy has worked with North Korea for the last 70 years? I like your style of diplomacy considering it encompassed the Korean War that ended in 1953. Loss of life from US soldiers and allies built the line and its ignorance spouted from the mouths of people like you who minimize the sacrifices our war hero’s and their lives made in building the peace that existed after. Some how beating NK to retreat turns into a successful diplomacy w/o bloodshed? As if the latter exists indespite of that bloody war? That event called the Korean War didn’t have an impact for the next 63 years? Get your facts straight and quit drinking each other’s koolaide. Men have made the hard decision to back up their beliefs with a gun in their hand and their life behind it; they were not psychologically imbalanced. They had the balls to stand up against the tyrants and bully’s of this world. You want to stand up against our president for you are calling him the Tyrant? Hold him accountable but give the true Tyrant of NK a pass? Your backing the wrong team. There is a name for that.

    2. Pivot. Destructo finally fulfilled his fan base’s long held belief that he would
      Pivot. With little surprise to no-one, he went from madman to turbo-charged
      hype-madman.

      So there’s discussion that in Trump’s USA, there’s no need for allies. That
      if the USA goes after NK militarily, it can go it alone with “fire, fury and
      frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before.”
      One might have thought he had seen enough of that with the destruction
      of the World Trade Center.

      Well, it appears that the USA might just have to go it alone. “According to a
      new Pew Research Center survey spanning 37 nations, a median of
      just 22% has confidence in Trump to do the right thing when it comes
      to international affairs.”

      So when you think of this international tuchus-sniffing going on between
      Trump and Kim Jong-un, think of this:

      Imagine yourself the leader of a Western allied country having to commit their
      military into battle under the leadership of a man as unstable and mad
      as Trump? A man with no military training, experience, or successes, or
      political, international or diplomatic training or experience, and questionable
      analytical capability, mental stability who is intemperate, thin skinned, easy
      to anger, distract, flatter and upend who takes no advice and has zero
      intellectual or knowledge base to draw on and eschews reading or research
      for enlarging his understanding of the issues. In other words a dullard.
      So, as a leader of Western allied country you are not in hurry to send
      your men and women down a black hole.

      Then, you turn to the other guy: Kim Jong-un (33-35?)? Kim Jong-un
      has been the Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army
      since 2011 and therefore that many more years of experience in
      the Military than Trump. He is a graduate of Kim Il-sung University
      followed by Kim Il-sung Military University, which is a post-secondary
      educational institution for officers in the Korean People’s Army. It is
      the most prominent military academy in North Korea. Now before those
      willing to attack him because of his skin color, slant of his eyes or
      ethnicity, try and keep in mind that the NK fought the US to a standstill,
      which started a long line of **major** wars that the US has failed
      to win.

      Now, what do you have? Trump v Kim Jong-un? An old inept mentally
      inefficient ego bloated president with no experience versus a young
      somewhat experienced leader of a communist-organized criminalized
      cabal who cares zero about his people who thinks he’s the smartest
      dude on earth.

      Talk about Trump being the worst guy in the world for job? Better off
      with Pee Wee Herman.

      1. I am by no means a military expert but was it not North Korea’s plan to take over “all” of Korea? Now there is a line made by military pushback from not only the US but allies. Is it a lost war because we did not push them off the map? A lost war because the loss of life was too great? I am sure South Korea appreciates not being pushed off the map. That event was not an act of diplomacy but preceded the diplomacy that followed. Now look at the crystal ball everyone is so happy to express that they have seen and know the future. Would NK ever attack SK? Would Russia ever attack Poland? Would Saddam ever attack neighbors? I am sure everyone would love that crystal ball to tell them the answer. At some point military action is taken with a false premise, an accurate and educated premise, by accident, and or by an idiot pushing a button. Regardless, at what point would an educated man pull that trigger? What is your “do not cross line?” Or are you a man of diplomacy only?

        1. Right, so, perhaps there’s another view of the Korean War history. No peace treaty was ever signed ending the Korean War. The two Koreas are technically still at war.

          Starting in 1910, the Japanese ruled Korea. In 1948, three years after WWII ended, North and South Korea came to exist when the Soviets and the US split Korea at the 38th Parallel. Both claimed the split was temporary and that each had the right to govern the whole of Korea. In 1950 war broke out when North Korean forces invaded SK backed up by the Chinese and the Soviets. The Korean war was not lost by the US, but was a so-called “war” fought under the banner of the UN, using a 21 country force, with the US taking the lead. From 1950-51, with the overwhelming force of the Chinese military entering the ground battle, NK took charge of the war. This was the case until 1951 when the UN air campaign took off and commenced grinding the NK on the ground. Then the Soviets sent their pilots in to the air and the soon the warring ended in the summer of ’53 with an armistice, i.e., a cessation of warring and belligerent actions between the sides. As is stands today, NK and SK are still in a state of war.

          As to the diplomatic end of things. I favor JFK’s process: the careful use of the analytical and skillful use of mind, words and action, as depicted in this article (posted by H); https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jfk-rose-up-to-the-nuclear-challenge-can-trump/2017/08/09/23345e40-7d21-11e7-83c7-5bd5460f0d7e_story.html?utm_term=.e0b4f5c1dad2

      2. Well Marty. Good choice with JFK. Pro military and anti-communist. Put his belief on the line and sent 5x’s the amount of troops “advisors” to Nam than his predecessor. I couldn’t of picked a better example of a man who was intelligent, yet pulled the trigger on a failed premise that cost so many brave soldiers their lives.

        Did he have Diem assasinated as well? I can respect that diplomacy. At least we have found some common ground. I assumed you would of picked Ford or the equivalent.

  8. Hey ANON – Trump is NOT great and you are an idiot. Trump is the tyrant and the bully and runs his mouth because he thinks he is the most important person of all – even more important than you. He will walk over you to save his reputation – do not doubt that. YOU are the one backing the wrong team – your coach is not even sane – nothing that comes out of his mouth is the truth. He would outrun you if his life was threatened!

    – Murphy

    1. Now you sound like Trump. Pot calling the kettle black. Impressive moral high ground. I could call you an idiot but it would only accomplish inflating my own ego. A Trump trait that you wear quite well. Who’s coach is he now? Looks like this is a wrap. Any further commentary is just trolling.

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