President Donald Trump tweeted about North Korea Monday, bragging that America has a “bigger” and “more powerful” nuclear button than Kim Jong-un. This has caused significant consternation among foreign policy experts.
North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018
Trump’s tweet was issued after Kim delivered a New Year’s Eve message on Monday that was perceived as threatening the United States.
“The entire mainland of the U.S. is within the range of our nuclear weapons and the nuclear button is always on the desk of my office. They should accurately be aware that this is not a threat but a reality,” Kim Jong-un said in his address, according to CNN.
Twitter users had plenty to say about Trump’s decision to escalate the rhetoric with the North Korean despot.
When presidential rhetoric descends to the level of "mine's bigger than yours" https://t.co/DbloTdOM30
— Jonathan Freedland (@Freedland) January 3, 2018
This madman is still the single most powerful person on the planet, with the ability to order the destruction of the world in just over four minutes. https://t.co/XIKB23NKQM
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) January 3, 2018
After Donald Trump’s nuclear button tweet San Francisco protestors beam “@jack is complicit” onto Twitter HQ https://t.co/XMiFtg5qGapic.twitter.com/7YGjyBKPkG
— Mark Di Stefano (@MarkDiStef) January 3, 2018
TY for update @BrianStelter! I know you’d love nothing more than to report via CNN, “@realDonaldTrump’s account has violated Twitters ToS & action is being taken.” I’m confident thats not going to happen. Why? POTUS doesn’t draw FAKE RED LINES! Please try and go report REAL NEWS! https://t.co/QqPPixJB6f
— Dan Scavino Jr. Archived (@Scavino45) January 3, 2018
In last 24 hours Trump has threatened to 1) cut aid to nuclear-armed, terrorist-laden Pakistan; 2) cut aid to miffed Palestinians after he alters US Jerusalem policy, and 3) boasted his nuclear button is bigger than Kim Jung-un's. This is our commander-in-chief. Think about it.
— Richard N. Haass (@RichardHaass) January 3, 2018
Trump’s provocative statement about North Korea came during a day in which he tweeted 17 times on a wide range of subjects, from immigration and Pakistan to more accusations directed at Hillary Clinton.
President Trump tweeted that he had a much bigger and more powerful nuclear button in reaction to Kim Jong Un’s speech saying that N. Korea completed its nuclear forces https://t.co/mtsf2NYijO pic.twitter.com/B3x4sZ8Z42
— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 3, 2018
Of course, there were voices from the right lauding Trump’s rhetoric on Twitter, even pulling out “alt-right” nomenclature to attack his critics.
I think the best part about Trump’s "Nuclear Button" tweet, is that all the snowflakes are losing their minds.
Not only did Trump offend Little Kim Jong Un, but he also sent the Left into Snowflake Meltdown mode!
— Brandon (@brandongroeny) January 3, 2018
After Trump’s button tweet, North Korea has agreed to open a border hotline with South Korea to discuss dialogue between the two
Obama never accomplished this.
Trump did it with one tweet.
— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) January 3, 2018
“It really doesn’t matter what the president of the United States says any more because it’s so bizarre, strange, not true, infantile,” Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., told CNN on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Eliot Cohen, a former top foreign policy official under George W. Bush, told the Guardian that Trump was acting like a 10-year-old “with nuclear weapons – for real – at his disposal. How responsible people around him, or supporting him, can dismiss this or laugh it off is beyond me.” North Korea announced on Wednesday that it was reopening a cross-border communications channel with South Korea, according to the Associated Press. It is unclear whether this decision was made before or after Trump’s nuclear tweet.
