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-Short Attention Span Theater-
With 'fire and fury,' Trump revives fears about his possession of nuclear codes
2017-08-10


As with most things Trump, the furor over the "fire and fury" has divided the nation in two - those who believe the president is a loose launchpad, impulsively blurting whatever flits through his mind, and those who believe his inflammatory talk is a wily combination of politically savvy instincts and a gut-driven populism that simply aims to please.

When President Donald Trump went off script Tuesday to deliver a startling threat to North Korea - "They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen" - it was as if the nation relived the most lurid themes of the 2016 campaign in one chilling moment.

Last fall, Hillary Clinton's campaign used as one of its final weapons a TV ad featuring a longtime nuclear missile launch officer who warned against voting for Trump: "I prayed that call would never come. Self-control may be all that keeps these missiles from firing."

Then, quick-fire, a series of clips of Trump on the stump: "I would bomb the s--- out of them." "I want to be unpredictable." "I love war."

"The thought of Donald Trump with nuclear weapons scares me to death," Bruce Blair, the retired launch officer, says in the ad. "It should scare everyone."

It very nearly did: Voters made clear last fall that they trusted Clinton vastly more than Trump on the use of nuclear weapons - by 57 percent to 31 percent in a Fox News poll in October, for example.

But Trump voters often said that their reasons for supporting him outweighed their sense that he could be dangerously impulsive - and they repeatedly expressed confidence that the national security apparatus would keep him in check.

A lot more at link.
Posted by:Seeking cure for ignorance

#11  I recall Reagan joking back in the 1980s:

Reagan said “My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.” The left went ballistic then but when Hillary bombed Libya, not much. You recall the lovely babe, Hilda, who said: "We came, we saw, he died" in reference to Qaddafi.
Posted by: JohnQC   2017-08-10 16:01  

#10  Candidate Hillary Clinton on Iran:
"I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran (if it attacks Israel)," Clinton said in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America."

"In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them," she said.

Candidate John Kerry on WMD threats:
We must ensure that lawless states and terrorists will not be armed with weapons of mass destruction.

This is the single gravest threat to our security. Any potential adversary should know that we will defend ourselves against the possibility of attack by unconventional arms. If such a strike does occur, as commander-in-chief, I will respond with overwhelming and devastating force. If such an attack appears imminent, as commander-in-chief, I will do whatever is necessary to stop it. And, as commander-in-chief, I will never cede our security to anyone. I will always do what is necessary to safeguard our country.


This was was pretty tough rhetoric. The big problem is that both candidates subsequently worked as Obama's SoS to help Iran acquire nuclear weapons.

So North Korea might reasonably dismiss Trump's and Mattis' threats as empty bluster.

Western deterrence has been eroded over the last decades by Western politician making empty threats.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660   2017-08-10 12:52  

#9  Sounds Truman'esque to me, No?

He has got this, and what he foes not, I have.

Posted by: newc   2017-08-10 11:52  

#8  The US has huge amounts of Stealth technology. Terminators can have an M16 in fat boys face before he can clear the sleep out of his eyes. The key is to take him alive if possible back to Guam. Cover launch and development areas with hell fire drones. Strike anything that so much as moves an onch. If a nuke goes off during a strike it is localized. Continue stealth strikes until capitulation.
Posted by: Threatch Jeamp8135   2017-08-10 11:01  

#7  My initial feelings about Trump have been pretty much borne out, he is bombastic

I think of him as matador - except the left are more rats than bulls.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2017-08-10 10:44  

#6  Trump's bombast has succeeded in putting the prospect of the US use of nukes back in play, which should have at least some deterrent effect on war. There is no point having nukes if everyone knows you would never use them.
Posted by: Glenmore   2017-08-10 10:43  

#5  #2 Didn't stop us in 1945. Same rationale, save more lives than a direct assault (military and civilian) and changed the thinking of those around the decision makers of the enemy altering who exercised the power.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2017-08-10 09:33  

#4  My initial feelings about Trump have been pretty much borne out, he is bombastic. But, his verbiage, while pointing the way he wants to go, does not show the deliberation and pace with which he will move.

The best line of the campaign time frame was: his supporters take him seriously not literally, his critics the other way.
Posted by: AlanC   2017-08-10 07:49  

#3  Actually, voters showed they preferred Trump in control of the nukes by putting him into office.
Posted by: Rob Crawford   2017-08-10 07:41  

#2  I simply can't see the USA going nuclear first. There will be no need for starters.
Posted by: phil_b   2017-08-10 05:59  

#1  Leftard mental processes in all their glory.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2017-08-10 04:19  

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