North Korea’s Kim Jong Un rang in 2018 with a thinly-veiled threat against the Trump administration, claiming that he has a nuclear button “always on the desk of [his] office.”
“The United States can never fight a war against me and our state,” he said. “It should properly know that the whole territory of the U.S. is within the range of our nuclear strike and a nuclear button is always on the desk of my office, and this is just a reality, not a threat.”
Tonight, Trump joined in on the pissing contest, claiming that he, too, has a nuclear button, “but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his.”
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
The escalation is only the latest in a series of incendiary remarks between the two despotic rulers grandstanding on the international stage.
So far, all of Trump’s strongman tactics have earned him exactly nothing, as North Korea, per their own announcement, now has a “complete” nuclear arsenal. The unfortunate achievement comes on the heels of repeated missile launches in the face of Trump’s aggressive rhetoric.
The world, meanwhile, is forced to stand idly by and watch as these two authoritarian leaders attempt to outdo each other on Twitter to mollify their insatiable egos.
During the campaign, Hillary Clinton said, “He should not have the nuclear codes because it’s very easy to imagine Donald Trump leading us into a war just because someone got under his very thin skin. We cannot let him roll the dice with America.”
Perhaps Trump’s supporters will now realize that she was right.
Follow Brian Tyler Cohen on Facebook and Twitter.
