Summoning all 100 U.S. Senators to the White House for a classified briefing on North Korea, 70-year-old Donald Trump sent a loud message to 33-year-old Kim Jong-un that he’s running out of time. North Korea’s Foreign Ministry threatened to annihilate the United States and its Pacific Rim allies April 22. “The DPRK will react to a total war with an all-out war, a nuclear war with nuclear strikes of its own and surely win a victory in the death-defying struggle against the U.S. Imperialists,” said the North Korean Foreign Ministry. Calling the entire U.S. Senate to the White House tells Kim that one more nuclear test or ballistic missile test will result in a U.S. military response. Telling the press that all options are on the table, Defense Secretary Gen. James Mattis insists the U.S. can’t let North Korea develop nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Trump’s National Security team, including Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of State Gen. Joseph Dunsford briefed the U.S. Senate on the growing North Korean threat. When Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping April 6 at Mar-a-Lago golf resort in Palm Beach, he received a commitment that China would do whatever it could to reign-in Kim Jong-un. Trump’s faced with an implacable challenge dealing with a growing North Korean nuclear threat. Chinese officials admit they have limited influence over North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, leaving Trump to go it alone with the threat. “He won’t let this ‘nut-job’ in North Korea develop a missile with nuclear weapon on top to hit America,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
Kim Jong-un’s thinking twice before detonating another nuclear weapon or shooting off a ballistic missile. Senators heard from Trump’s national security team, telling them that Kim Jon-Un’s feverishly working on packing a nuclear warhead into a long-range ballistic missile. South Korean Amb. Chrstopher Hill indicated that Trump’s approach to diplomacy could stop Kim from more nuclear testing, something wishful thinking. Exploding a crude hydrogen bomb Sept. 8, 2016, former President Barack Obama did nothing other than make noise in the U.N. Security Council Trump has made it clear the days for letting things slide are beyond any red lines. Senators heard a compelling case for preparing the nation for military action against North Korea. Once thought unthinkable, responding to North Korea looks more likely, unless Kim backs down.
Trump’s biggest critics on Capitol Hill have now gotten behind the president since he hit a Syrian air base with 59 Cruise missles April 4, then dropping a 10-ton MOAB bomb April 15 on Osama bin Laden’s cave complexes in Afghanistan. “The military is obviously planning for a number of options, as they should—minimal military action to more significant action,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tx.), one of Trump’s most vociferous critics during the campaign. Now that Trump’s stepping up with U.S. foreign policy, he’s won over some of biggest critics, including Sen. John McCain (R-Az.). McCain was highly critical of Trump until he bombed Syria. Trump’s foreign policy decisions have turned the tide on the avalanche of bad publicity in his own party and the liberal press. Democrats have accused Trump of diverting attention away from his Russian problems.
After the Cruise missile strike, McCain hoped Trump would change his policy to back Saudi-backed rebels seeking to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Pivoting to North Korea, McCain, and his good friend Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) find themselves all in on dealing with North Korea and Syria [ISIS], and near misses with Iran in the Persian Gulf. Since Trump took over, there’s more respect in foreign circles. China and Russia once threatened Obama about installing Terminal High Altitude Area Defense [THAAD] in South Korea and Poland. Since Trump took over, THAAD has been installed in Poland and South Korea. Nowhere is missile defense needed more than in South Korea. Installing THAAD was once thought unthinkable is now a necessity, especially with Kim Jong-un threatening the U.S. with nuclear annihilation.
Meeting at the White House, 100 U.S. Senators got an earful from Trump’s national security team highlighting the growing North Korean nuclear threat. Trump’s used the military much differently than Obama, whose over-reliance on the United Nations Security Council let North Korea and other hot-spots simmer around the globe. Picking “Mad Dog” Mattis as his Defense Secretary has enabled Trump to stay ahead of the curve to defend U.S. national Security. Obama preferred to stay in the background, funding proxy wars in Syria and Libya but reluctant to commit U.S. power to deter aggression against the U.S. Kim Jong-un’s been put on notice that any more nuclear of missile tests could end his reign terrorizing the world’s most repressive Stalinist regime. As Graham points out, Trump won’t let a “nut-job” like Kim get his hands on intercontinental nuclear missiles.
