For decades North Korea has crafted a delicate balance, building
a nuclear capability while promoting nationalism to perpetuate the Kim Jong-un
regime. American Presidents during those years were willing to accept the
status quo which was preferable to a military confrontation. Even with conventional weapons, , on a first
strike North Korea could kill up to a million people in Seoul, only a few dozen
miles from the DMZ. That potential has
held the world hostage all these years.
Pressure on North Korea’s trading partners, particularly
China, to enact stiff sanctions on North Korea has, until recently, been
futile. Here China holds the U.S.
hostage, owning a portion of our debt and more significantly knowing the American
public’s insatiable demand for cheap imported goods would prevail over any
economic retaliation against China. China was content to have North Korea as a
buffer zone until it, too, has been startled by NK’s nuclear ambitions.
Indeed, a delicate balance, and then Trump’s opening day
message at the United Nations, where he threatened to “totally destroy North
Korea.” We all know what that is code
for – the use of nuclear weapons. An
American President has said he would use this country’s nuclear force as a
first strike.
Unthinkable. There
were so many other ways to signal our resolve, to further pressure North Korea
to the negotiating table. He went on to
call Kim Jong-un ‘Rocket Man,’ --in front of the United Nations, schoolyard
name-calling. Then, further undermining the
dignity of the Office of the Presidency, he continued those threats and
name-calling in Tweets.
Surprise. Tensions
have ratcheted up, Kim Jong-un responding with new threats, including testing a
hydrogen bomb over the Pacific. Unlikely,
but to even utter that is giving as good as one gets.
There has been much criticism levied at Trump for worsening
an already incendiary environment between the two countries, so what does he do?
-- he turns on the NFL. He has a reptilian instinct for
survival. In so doing, he wrapped
himself in the flag, the one that belongs to us all. “Fire the sons of bitches” referring to NFL
players who went to one knee during the playing of the National Anthem.
I come from a generation which would never do that, but I
would defend another person’s right to protest that way over such weighty
issues as “Black Lives Matter.” Of
course all lives matter in this country and to be born black should not be an impediment,
but look where Trump brought President Obama – to the point of producing his
birth certificate to prove his legitimacy as the President. If Obama was white, no such argument would
have been made.
Now, if anyone is an illegitimate President, it is
Trump. And he knows it -- how he got to
be President, by his actions and Russia’s and astonishingly by those of the
head of the FBI. Even his ignorance of
American history, and his divisiveness seemed to work in his favor. He did
not win by popular vote and although some of his marginal supporters say they
would not vote for him now, he still has a solid 30 -35% base enamored by his
strong-arm tactics, convinced he can do no wrong. And it is HE who is holding the rest of
America hostage.
He knows his tenure as President is precarious, with the
possibility of impeachment or the invocation of the 25th amendment,
which provides for the removal of the President if “disabled” and unable to
perform the duties of the office. One
could argue that we are already there, but it is a high bar to achieve and it
has to be set in motion by the Vice President and ultimately have the backing of
2/3 of Congress if the President objects.
With his pathetic response to the Charlottesville show of
power by white supremacist groups and his attack on NFL players, mostly black (although
he disavows that as being an issue), he dog whistles to his hard-core
followers, many probably NRA diehards, and thereby creates a hostage
situation. I can see clearly, now, the
“strategy:” “remove me as your President and suffer the consequences of a new
Civil War. “ He has his army, he has the
means of communication, he exhibits sociopathic thinking, and his politics of divisiveness
have created such an environment. He
would even risk nuclear war.
So, North Korea holds the world hostage, China holds us
hostage, and Trump holds the majority of the American people hostage. Never has there been such a President who
disrespects the very ideals which makes the American flag so sacred. He has done more than take a metaphoric knee to
fortify his fragile ego.
