Trump said that if you're satisfied knowing you can comfortably make a deal that doesn't require much effort, then you're not thinking big enough.
It’s demonstrably clear that President Trump is not a great leader. By Trump feeding into the strong rhetoric that is only escalating North Korea’s threats, he is not practicing what he preaches. He is not thinking big enough. Belligerency is the easy way out. Working out the complexities that are inherent in the North Korea problem is what makes a great leader, and is what takes a great deal of effort.
Nevertheless, most frightening of all, we have a genuine crisis in North Korea. The roots of this crisis stretch back decades. Yes, “He inherited a problem without any good solutions. But that is the job of being president is to keep horrible situations from becoming catastrophic. And beating your chest and escalating tensions through a war of words befitting schoolyard taunts and not adult diplomacy is the exact wrong approach, -- Dan Rather.
North Korea has for years threatened the United States. It’s nothing new. Evidently Trump, like so many other things, does not know that North Korea has taunted us with threats for years. The big difference now is that he has a nuclear weapon. But “Kim Jong Un is not begging for war,” said Daniel Russel, who was the State Department’s top diplomat for Asia until earlier this year. “What he wants is not conflict but some kind of major concession” from the United States and its allies South Korea and Japan.” It’s what North Korea has been after for many years, except now they have the threat of a bigger stick to throw at us.
And Trump’s favorite leader, Vladimir Putin, says, "We should not give in to emotions and push Pyongyang into a corner.As never before everyone should show restraint and refrain from steps leading to escalation and tensions.”
“Kim, in contrast to Trump, has been relentlessly consistent.
“During Trump’s nearly eight months in office, North Korea’s leader has, as promised, accelerated development of a more powerful nuclear weapon and long-range missiles that could deliver a warhead to U.S. shores. The goal, Asia security specialists said, is to cut off U.S. military options and force the United States and the rest of the world to make concessions.
“’Kim Jong Un has a very scrutable game plan,’ said Russel, now a fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute. ‘Leverage his nuclear threat and monetize it.’
“That strategy predates Trump, and U.S. officials have complained about a shakedown for years.
“But Trump’s response has been far different from recent administrations’ and, at times, has seemed more off the cuff than the result of deliberative planning.”
In my mind, Trump’s lack of full understanding of the threats, his inconsistency, unpredictability, and lack of a diplomatic plan to counter Kim Jung Un’s threats makes Trump a more dangerous threat to the United States than North Korea.
By Anne Gearan
