Sen. Lindsey Graham applauded President Donald Trump on Thursday for walking away from the table during his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rather than agreeing to any deal short of „complete denuclearization“ — an outcome he believes the US must achieve by any means necessary.
„We must not go back to the status quo,“ he added. „If negotiations fail, it would be time to end the nuclear threat from North Korea — one way or the other.“
‚Dangerous consequences‘
That all or nothing view has sparked backlash from some nuclear weapons experts, who believe Graham’s suggestions could yield dangerous consequences if Trump chooses to follow his advice.
„Sen. Graham is clinging to a dangerous world that fortunately doesn’t exist,“ according to Adam Mount, senior fellow and director, Defense Posture Project, Federation of American Scientists.
„In this fantasy, Trump hasn’t praised and flattered a despot, sanctions pressure is dramatically more effective than it has been and the risks of a nuclear war are tolerable. We should all be very thankful that Sen. Graham is working in a fantasy world rather than the administration,“ he said.
Still, Graham has emerged as an influential foreign policy adviser to the President and a staunch ally of the administration on a broad swath of issues.
That said, he has also not shied away from publicly criticizing Trump over matters on which they disagree, including the President’s more diplomatic rhetoric toward Kim leading up to the second summit.
„This love crap needs to stop,“ Graham said in October about Trump’s effusive praise for the North Korean dictator.
Trump’s performance in Hanoi appears to have done little to change Graham’s view that the US must take a hard line on North Korea, even if that means considering the use of preventative military force should Kim refuse to peacefully dismantle his entire nuclear weapons program.
Despite repeatedly saying he hopes military options are never employed, Graham again made it very clear Thursday that he believes the US must be ready to pre-emptively use force against North Korea if necessary.
