At the United Nations General Assembly, President Trump made sure to address the current tensions between the United States and North Korea in his 43-minute speech. With an aggressive and pretentious style and rhetoric, Trump called Kim Jong-Un “rocket man” and proposed that the United States would be ready to destroy North Korea if needed. This might be Trump’s biggest mistake by far. U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley was noticeably frustrated and she is not alone.
What Trump did is dangerous. The U.N. was founded on the idea of global peace and unity. But to give a speech like that, in front of most major world leaders, is the exact opposite of this mission. Trump is actively encouraging militant action against North Korea, which effectively means the threat of nuclear war.
I get it. North Korea is bad, they’re oppressive, and Kim Jong-Un is a tyrannical leader. Otto Warmbier, an American college student, died at their hands. North Korea needs to be controlled. But if Trump urges militant actions then not only does he put the entire global community, including every American citizen, at risk of nuclear winter, but he aimlessly puts every innocent and brainwashed North Korean at risk of losing their lives.
Dealing with North Korea is not easy by any means. But when we strive to go run away from diplomacy, things like this happen. And now Kim Jong-Un, in response, is just feeding the fire of tensions between the two countries and putting us all at risk. If this is what America’s core values are, and what Trump calls “Putting America first,” means, then is it honestly the best choice if it puts the entire world at risk?
Trump loves to talk about America “winning,” but in the case of North Korea we can’t simply “win.” This is real. There is an extreme complexity to this issue that he needs to understand quickly before this escalates and gets out of hand. This isn’t a game where the country with the strongest arsenal of nuclear weapons wins. Too many innocent people will die. And I don’t have the answers, and I don’t think anyone does. But active and integral discussions need to occur if we want to make real progress with North Korea. It can’t just happen overnight.
Photo by Timothy Clary — Getty Images
