NK has been threatening us (U.S.) for decades. Have they followed through ?
EXACTLY. So why did Trump place the credibility of his administration on a red line of: "if they *threaten*us again they will experience fire & fury like the world has never seen."
Anyone, and I mean anyone, with a pulse and brain working at 10% capacity knew they'd immediately threaten us again. I've watched them do it for 25+ years, and this is their shtick. So why say if they issue another threat you are essentially going to retaliate with extreme military force and then sit on your thumbs and back down?
This is the problem with Trump, and this is why our allies and enemies alike think he's a joke. He makes these threats or insane statements then backs down without any follow up. That tells our allies that they can't rely on us, and it tells our enemies that they need not fear consequences from Trump.
Do you think it was smart, Matt? Has he backed up his threat/promise to North Korea? They responded to his statement in around 1-1.5 hours and MOCKED him saying well, we are thinking about attacking Guam with missiles. We are even planning it.
It took NK 1.5 hours or less to cross Trump's red line.
Here is Trump's response:
He is seriously weaker than Jimmy Carter. He made one of the most serious threats our country has made in decades, and it became clear it was an empty threat within just a few hours. He completely backed down.
Since he has lost face with NK and China (even more important), look for NK testing to accelerate and become more frequent. Also, look for China to test us mightily in the South China Sea.
We already know Russia has been having their way with us (expelled 700 diplomats and seized several US properties and nary a single response from Trump), and suffered no serious consequences for their behavior during the election, or even related to Crimea/Ukraine except for what Congress did.
Trump is going to go down as a historically weak and feckless President. Infinitely weaker than Obama, and he'll have way less success legislatively than Obama did. Trump still can't point to any significant legislation he's been part of. Almost unheard of for a President that's been in office almost 8 months...unless they were sick and died before the 8 months ended.
Trump is vacationing at his golf club because he doesn't have the stamina to be President. Everything he said about Hillary was a projection of his own flaws and inadequacy. Yesterday, at 5pm, the President's schedule showed not a single public appearance for today. The other day when it rained at his golf course and he couldn't play, he literally stayed inside and watched TV all day. The media was tracking his tweets as he watched Fox News show after Fox News show.
If you want to continue to deny the reality that Trump is a complete failure, one of the weakest Presidents we've ever had, and wholly incompetent then that's your right. But our enemies live in reality, and they've been profiling and testing Trump since the Primary. If you don't think they're taking advantage of his stunningly public flaws and character defects then you are just naive.
Yet again Trump has made a significant mistake. Yet again you either say it is 99th dimensional chess or blow it off as being nothing or too hyped by the media. The most significant mistake Trump supporters are making is thinking that NOT criticizing Trump is helping his Presidency. The opposite is true. With completely subservient and blind supporters, there's no motivation for Trump to do better as he blames the media for the critical comments made by those that never supported him.