“President Fire and fury” Donald Trump is still in office because he thinks he has support from the Republicans, the very party most of his own supporters hate almost as much as they hate liberals and Democrats. Those supporters consider the GOP a “do nothing” party. After all, it’s a party that only has a 24% approval rating. The GOP is part of the swamp Trump was supposed to drain, a party that only looks out for its own self-interests, only helps big business, only passes tax cut legislation to aid the richest people…etc.
But why do these Trump supporters continue to cling to Trump? Why do they still support him? Apart from lying incessantly to them, he has done nothing for them. He has passed no legislation that helps them. He has saved no jobs or gotten jobs returned from overseas. He hasn’t built the useless southern border wall. He hasn’t repealed the ACA. He has his own state-run TV news on his Facebook page to spread Trump-approved propaganda, but it doesn’t appear to be changing anyone’s mind. So what do Trump’s supporters see in a Trump presidency? Are they going to jump up and down and cheer when Trump orders our military into action in a backwater, out-of-the-way, piss-ant little country like North Korea? Place your money on it. The whole “North Korea is a rogue state and deserves our wrath” is a smoke screen. Trump is hiding something else. But his supporters will say it shows he’s a strong, tough man that won’t blink before Kim Jong Un.
Trump is going to get us into a war…a war that will involve nuclear weapons. Trump doesn’t understand nuclear weapons. He thinks of them as “well if they are in our arsenal, then we must use them like they are aircraft carriers, armored vehicles, or bombers.” That’s as deep as Trump has thought about the issue. He did not study the Second World War. He does not understand the use of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He knows nothing about our nuclear triad. He only knows he has the power to launch them and soon he will find a reason or will be provoked or goaded into using them.
Since the 1950s the Kims have been trying to stay in the public eye. They refused to sign a treaty ending the Korean War. They have been launching missiles of one sort or another since 1988 when Reagan was in office. They developed a nuclear weapon in 2006 when Bush was in charge so Obama cannot be blamed for this. The current threat is nothing new from the North Koreans. Even our latest satellite reconnaissance photographs of North Korea show no preparation for war. South Korean intelligence has indicated there have been no changes made anywhere along the border. It’s the same thing North Korea has done since the 1950s, make meaningless gestures while blowing off hot air. But this is the first time they’ve dealt with Trump and Trump knows nothing about North Korea or how to react so he thinks putting on his tough guy act is the correct course.
Since the 1950s the Kims have been trying to stay in the public eye. They refused to sign a treaty ending the Korean War. They have been launching missiles of one sort or another since 1988 when Reagan was in office. They developed a nuclear weapon in 2006 when Bush was in charge so Obama cannot be blamed for this. The current threat is nothing new from the North Koreans. Even our latest satellite reconnaissance photographs of North Korea show no preparation for war. South Korean intelligence has indicated there have been no changes made anywhere along the border. It’s the same thing North Korea has done since the 1950s, make meaningless gestures while blowing off hot air. But this is the first time they’ve dealt with Trump and Trump knows nothing about North Korea or how to react so he thinks putting on his tough guy act is the correct course.
On July 31st Trump said he wasn’t worried about a possible nuclear threat. “We’ll handle North Korea,” Trump told assembled reporters “We’re going to be able to handle them. It will be handled.” The president offered no specifics about how he would “handle” North Korea. It seems he has no game plan and thinks that if he says “handled” three times it will solve the issue as if it’s Beetlejuice.
On August 5th National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster ratcheted up the heat by saying “The United States is preparing for all options to counter the growing threat from North Korea, including launching a “preventive war. It’s impossible to overstate the danger associated with a rogue, brutal regime." How ironic that McMaster could also be talking about the Trump regime.,
On August 7th, from his Bedminster Golf Club, Trump threatened to unleash “fire and fury” against North Korea if it continues to threaten the US as tensions grow. The White House and Defense Dept. are caught completely off guard by Trump’s comments and so far have not issued clarifying statements, just support for Trump's bombastic idiocy.
And then, as Trump does repeatedly because he is a complete amateur or nitwit, on August 8th he gives away more classified information when he tweeted out a link to a Fox News report about North Korea that contained what U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said was confidential information regarding North Korea mounting anti-ship missiles onto their patrol boats.
Our military forces are already fighting in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, and naval forces are ready to strike off the coast of Iran, in the South China Sea against China, and our navy and air force reconnaissance aircraft are being challenged repeatedly over the Black Sea by the Russians. How many hair-triggers do we need? Now Trump wants to add the volatile North Koreans to the mix.
Will General Mattis (known colloquially as “Mad Dog”) challenge Trump not to launch nuclear weapons? He is the one who used the Massive Ordinance Air Blast bomb in Afghanistan for no apparent reason, and Trump approved it after the fact. Will General H. R. McMaster? Will new Chief of Staff Kelly? Will NSA Director Admiral Rogers? Will Director of Intelligence Dan Coats? Or even CIA director Pompeo? These men are all sycophants who have pledged their loyalty to Trump…not to the country or to the Constitution…but to Trump. Therein lies our problem, as if Trump’s lying isn’t enough. These men are confusing loyalty to Trump with loyalty to the country and its Constitution. Those could not be more different. And that misguided loyalty will get us into a war “the likes of which the world has never seen” to use Trump’s own words.
Trump supporters need to come to the realization that Trump will get them - and/or their sons and daughters - killed in a war he’ll launch strictly to stroke his ego. He’ll blame it on the North Koreans as though he alone finally has to do something about them obtaining nuclear weapons. But we didn’t launch a war to stop the Soviet Union from obtaining theirs…or China...or India...or Pakistan...or South Africa...or Israel...or anyone else.
Keep Trump away from the nuclear codes. Resist this man. Fight this man, Remove this man from office. Our future as a species depends on it.
