Yesterday, Rush Limbaugh took to the airwaves to defend President Trump’s North Korea strategy, saying, “I think Trump is employing the madman strategy.”
Limbaugh explained, there “are genuine madmen in North Korea. These people are literally off-the-charts insane, and it might be something as simple as inbreeding. Who the hell knows. These people are odd. You have to admit it, folks. So Trump may be thinking, ‘You know what? I’m gonna make them think I’m unpredictable. I’m gonna make them think that I am a madman. I’m gonna reverse the table on ’em, and I’m gonna make them think I’m the one that’s unpredictable.”
President Trump issued a warning to North Korea on Tuesday, in response to reports that North Korea had “miniaturized nuclear warheads” that were powerful enough to strike the United States. President Trump stated during a briefing in New Jersey “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States,” and famously warned that “They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
Limbaugh also expressed concern over the approach by Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, towards the problem of North Korea. “Tillerson says, ‘Sleep easy. There’s nothing here. There’s nothing gonna happen here. Don’t worry about it.’ I understand exactly what he’s talking about. We’re dealing with media-created frames of mind, states of mind here”
“The North Koreans have been who they are for months,” Limbaugh continued. “The North Koreans have been launching missiles for months. The North Koreans have been doing this and testing this. They’ve been failing at everything they’ve been trying for months.”
He noted that past Presidents, like Harry Truman, were able to see the value in talking and acting tough when facing an incredibly dangerous opponent like the Japanese – and even a nuclear opponent, like the USSR. Limbaugh chalks up the response to Trump as a result of, “true generational differences”
In fact, he argued, even though Trump is leading like past Presidents, the media and society are totally different. “Clearly there are generational differences here the way the office of the presidency is conducted and managed and represented, but the reaction to a strong-willed and forceful and confident American president, the reaction in liberal media, the blogosphere, with palpable fear and outrage. That’s kind of unprecedented too.”
President Trump’s numerous critics jumped on his use of the words “fire and fury,” with Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein calling the statement, “bombastic,” and counterproductive to American interests. Sen. John McCain also took “exception to the president’s comments” saying, “I don’t know what he’s saying and I’ve long ago given up trying to interpret what he says. It’s not terrible but it’s kind of the classic Trump in that he overstates things,” McCain added.
