Readers respond to President Trump’s war of words with Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
In a remarkable 24 hours on Tuesday, President Trump fired off a barrage of 16 tweets (“ Trump picks up where he left off, with a tweet storm,” Page A1, Jan. 3). None perhaps more electrifying or more alarming than his reaction to what the North Korean leader Kim Jun Un said on New Year’s Eve about his nuclear button. The president countered that he not only also has a nuclear button on his desk, but that his button was “bigger” than Kim’s and “works.” It is hard to imagine a more cavalier offhand comment on a more profound and serious topic than our nuclear strike capability. There is no fear greater or more existential than that of a nuclear war, especially if you live in South Korea or Japan, where the threat is the most real.
Mr. President, do you even think about the consequences before you fire off a tweet? As you yourself like to say in a different context, “The whole world is watching.”
Ken Derow
Swarthmore, Pa.
Donald Trump has dangerously gone from bragging about his body parts to bragging about his nuclear arsenal, something that could result in a world catastrophe. It is absolutely frightening how casually Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un are talking about nuclear threats, almost as if it were a sporting event rather than the possible destruction of mankind.
Kenneth L. Zimmerman
Huntington Beach, Calif.
History has recorded many examples of disreputable leaders. For one, there’s the notorious Nero, who fiddled while Rome burned. In our case, we have a tweeting birdbrain who treats his role in the government like he’s still the host of some TV show, with plenty of slapstick entertainment designed to divert the masses from real problems.
