Blabbermouths in charge — bellicose President Trump and North Korea

© 2017 Peter Free

 

10 August 2017

 

 

"Talkin' shit" for the sake of it

 

Referring to our Commander in Chief, Rich Lowry wrote that:

 

 

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was on the receiving end of the alliteration heard around the world, when [President]Trump promised “fire and fury” if Pyongyang continued to threaten the United States.

 

It was classic Trump—a memorably pungent expression that dominated the news cycle and probably didn't reflect more than about 30 seconds of thought.

 

© 2017 Rich Lowry, The Gang that Couldn't Threaten Straight, Politico (09 August 2017)

 

 

The President's threat sounds mildly innocuous on paper

 

But if you watched his delivery, you see what a playground-like, bullying conceit it was.

 

This is the kind of posturing that escalates, rather than defuses, conflict. Which means that the President either wants increased tension, or he's too careless to take its possibility seriously.

 

Neither attitude seems aware.

 

 

The idea that North Korea can threaten U.S. preeminence is absurd

 

Yet evidently, the President (among others in the chain of command) find it useful to pretend so. After all, they may "think":

 

 

If we sound like ludicrously bellicose North Korea in escalating dangerous confrontations, who cares?

 

No one's judging us on geopolitical maturity and finesse, are they?

 

And if we push North Korea into a corner from which they feel compelled to save face by taking military action, does it really matter?

 

Wars are good American politics.

 

 

Promoting armed conflict with North Korea and China could improve the Commander in Chief's popularity. And nothing is more important to the humanity's wellbeing than the health of the President's self-esteem. Right?

 

 

The moral? — Eventually, someone "major" is going to tire of our perpetually threatening, arguably imperialistic braggadocio

 

Think China in the South China Sea. Or Russia along its periphery.

 

More often than not, people and nations substantially contribute to their downfall.