Lately there has been some increased rhetoric regarding the continued situation in North Korea. Earlier this week, President Trump announced that North Korea was back on the list of state sponsors of terror. During a public meeting at the Treasury Department, President Trump said, “Today the United States is designating the North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism” and added that it “[s]hould have happened a long time ago.”

President Trump has made it quite clear that he wants to “totally destroy” the regime in North Korea, boldly stating just that at a UN speech in September. Standing front and center on the world stage, the American President called Kim Jong Un “Rocket Man,” as well as a series of other slurs better suited for a speech by a middle school preteen running for class president.

These latest announcements, though far more presidential, have done little to reassure. Many democrats are nervous that President Trump’s knee-jerk reactions and his obsession with turning the American preoccupation with all things Russia on to just about anything else (see Twitter posts on our fearless leader) hint toward some real instability in his character.

This week, Senator Chris Murphy called into question the presidential authority over nuclear weapon use. During this hearing, he stated, “We are concerned that the President of the United States is so unstable, is so volatile, has a decision-making process that is so quixotic that he might order a nuclear weapons strike that is wildly out of step with U.S. national security interests”.

Even Republicans had some reservations on the current authority as it stands. Senate Foreign Relations Chairman, Republican Senator Bob Corker, warned of the inherent danger of a system giving sole-authority without a way to revoke such orders.

Obviously Corker is not a fan of President Trump (again, see Trump’s Twitter posts), but he wasn’t the only Republican wanting additional assurances of strategic oversight measures, according to a report by CNN, though they were far less openly critical of Trump.

One doubts that the President is truly “unstable,” but the concern that he just might act rashly is a valid one. So much so that General John Hyten publicly announced during the Halifax International Security Forum that he would press back against any “illegal” nuclear strike order.

Hyten stated, “He’ll tell me what to do, and if it’s illegal, guess what’s going to happen? I’m gonna say, ‘Mr. President, that’s illegal.’ Guess what he’s going to do? He’s going to say, ‘What would be legal?’ And we’ll come up with options of a mix of capabilities to respond to whatever the situation is, and that’s the way it works. It’s not that complicated.”

With this in mind, it appears that the Dems are just using these events to further their wish to undermine the support (though there’s not much left) of the current administration. They seem to be using the fears of all-out nuclear holocaust to further their agenda. Not cool DemoDonkeys!

There is certainly no love lost between myself and the current President, however, let’s try to keep our wits about us and not get too lost in the political sauce, shall we? President Trump is not mentally unstable, he’s just a bit rash (okay, at times very rash), somewhat obsessed with Twitter and quite a bit inexperienced, but thankfully we have some very experienced individuals (not counting DeVos) surrounding him. And I bet you thought this was going to be another Trump-bashing article, huh? Ha! Fooled ya good!

 

Featured image courtesy of the Associated Press

Sources:  CNN, Washington Post, Reuters