8/20/17: You know how Republicans swear we can always trust businesspeople with our lives and even hand over our wallets, and nothing can go wrong? Wells Fargo (already famous for signing up customers for credit card accounts they didn’t…um… authorize, carrying annual fees they didn’t know about) is reported to have tricked customers into buying car insurance they didn’t need.
This drove 274,000 individuals into loan delinquency
and caused 25,000 vehicles to be repossessed.
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Preventative
war: What could go wrong?
____________________
AT THE WHITE HOUSE, top officials have bigger worries to consider. Namely, how to handle the nuclear threat posed by North Korea.
President Trump, of course, mocked his predecessors for failing to untie the Gordian Knot. Trump, ever the blusterer, has already threatened to unleash “fire and fury” on our enemies. The problem being, North Korea has the capability to hit back with nuclear weapons of its own.
National Security Advisor General H.R. McMaster recently posed this question during a television interview. “Are we preparing plans for a preventive war?” First, he defined the term as “a war that would prevent North Korea from threatening the United States with a nuclear weapon.”
“The president’s been very clear about it,” he answered. “He
said he’s not going to tolerate North Korea being able to threaten the United
States.”
David E. Sanger, writing in The New York Times, suggests that even if Mr. Trump is bluffing, convincing Kim Jong-un that he might be willing to strike at any moment “has significant value.”
Then again, in the world of diplomacy, every idea looks good when posited, until you try it in reality.
The North could surely pulverized large parts of South Korea with its own nuclear and conventional weapons, and do horrible damage to U.S. troops stationed there. Or, using the missiles he already possesses, Kim might take out Guam. (I’m sorry, but I doubt Trump could locate Guam in the right ocean on a world map.) No way of knowing if Kim was rattled, but the President of South Korea, Moon Jae-in, felt the need to reassure his own public during a news conference last week.
“No matter what options the United States and President Trump want to use, they have promised to have full consultation with South Korea and get our consent in advance,” he told reporters. “The people can be assured that there will be no war.”
Unfortunately,
we have no good options. Same situation as Bill Clinton. Same as George W. Bush
(although he did think attacking Iraq, instead, would be easy). Same as Obama.
Susan E. Rice, who served as National Security Advisor in the last
administration, insisted the idea of “preventive war” was “lunacy.”
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8/21/17: Charles Blow, in a New York Times editorial, perfectly
captures the essence of President Trump’s comments on Charlottesville. Says
Blow: “He wasn’t there to plead the case that America could rise on the wings
of its better angels. He was there to defend the demons.”
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8/22/17: In another raging speech in Phoenix, Trump defends his stance on Charlottesville. This time he reads from his statement on Saturday but leaves off the “both sides” ad lib, which faulted everyone equally.
Petulant as always, he calls for a government shutdown in September if he doesn’t get funding for a border wall. (See: 1/19/18.)
Trump also tells his audience that talking tough to the North
Koreans is working. A North Korean threat to fire missiles in the
direction of Guam has not materialized. Trump can’t resist crowing: “I respect
the fact that he [Kim Jong-un] is starting to respect us.” (See: 8/26-28/17.)
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
