The presidency in 2017 has a very different look than the previous eight years. During the Obama years, it was not uncommon to handle an international crisis with endless diplomatic maneuvers and empty words that never resonated above tedium. Even the threat of a red line being crossed meant little to our nation’s enemies. They grew to understand the threat of force meant nothing.
Times have certainly changed under President Donald Trump. After weeks of media hysteria over his harsh words towards the man-child North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un, the end result was made abundantly clear on Tuesday. Kim blinked first and backed down from his planned missile launch near the American territory of Guam.
The chubby dictator unleashed his usual bombastic words, but it was clear Trump had successfully gotten into his head. Kim’s words appeared to signal a path to defuse a deepening crisis with Washington over a North Korean weapons program that is seen as having the ability to be able to send a nuclear missile to the U.S. mainland.
Like a small child, Kim flails his arms with empty threats, if the “Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions on the Korean Peninsula and its vicinity.” He also said the United States should “think reasonably and judge properly” to avoid shame.
In other words, he got the message and he is backing down. Donald Trump’s grave warnings and harsh language are apparently the only type of diplomacy the North Korean lunatic understands. Either wise up or face your own annihilation. Kim understands that.
Nevertheless, the United States and South Korea plan next week to start annual defensive military drills that the North claims are preparation for invasion. It is vintage Trump signaling intimidation will not deter the U.S. or its allies for anyone.
The Korean situation is far from where it was last week when Kim planned to fire four intermediate ballistic missiles near Guam, which is about 3,200 kilometers (2,000 miles) from Pyongyang. Nervous Americans can now consider that idea yesterday’s news. This is something extreme news outlets like CNN are finding disappointing to digest.
Not surprisingly, North Korea is angry about two things. First, the new United Nations sanctions over its expanding nuclear weapons and missile program and second, the annual military drills between Washington and Seoul beginning later this month. But North Korea faced a severe setback when both China and Russia agreed to the sanctions.
Pyongyang condemns invasion rehearsals, but no one is listening anymore. Unlike the previous administration that talked America’s enemies senseless and never acted on threats, Trump is unafraid to stand behind military power and the threat of its use.
The American president has declared the U.S. military “locked and loaded” and said he was ready to unleash “fire and fury” if North Korea continued to threaten the United States. Kim grew to believe this president because Trump is unpredictable. Something the liberal media detests and calls reckless. But then, they detest everything about Trump anyway.
