Trump Says Military Is ‘Locked and Loaded’ and North Korea Will ‘Regret’ Threats
AUGUST 11, 2017
BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — President Trump issued yet more provocative warnings of military action against North Korea on Friday as he continued to suggest that he was ready to strike the small, isolated Asian country that has been developing nuclear weapons capable of reaching the United States.
Even as he kept up the drumbeat against Pyongyang, Mr. Trump suggested that he was also contemplating the use of armed force closer to home, in Venezuela, where the government has moved to close down the opposition parliament after a fraud-plagued referendum while the country spirals deeper into poverty and dysfunction.
Asked about the crisis there, Mr. Trump volunteered the possibility of military force even though there has been no tangible threat to the United States.
“Venezuela is not very far away and the people are suffering and they’re dying,” Mr. Trump told reporters at his golf club in nearby Bedminster, N.J., after meeting with members of his national security team. “We have many options for Venezuela, including a possible military option if necessary.”
After twice earlier in the day escalating his rhetoric against North Korea, Mr. Trump emerged from the late afternoon session with a somewhat more restrained message, vowing to give diplomacy a chance. He said he would be calling President Xi Jinping of China later Friday evening to coordinate strategy. “Hopefully it’ll all work out,” he said. “Nobody loves a peaceful solution better than President Trump, that I can tell you. Hopefully it’ll all work out, but this has been going on for many years.”
Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, who flew to the golf club to brief Mr. Trump after returning from Asia, said the president’s tough language was part of an overall strategy designed to bring North Korea to the negotiating table.
“I think the president’s made it clear he prefers a diplomatic solution,” Mr. Tillerson said, standing next to Mr. Trump. “What the president’s doing is to support our efforts by making sure North Korea understands the stakes.”
Mr. Trump started the morning with a Twitter message saying the American military was “locked and loaded” for conflict, and then followed up in the afternoon by telling reporters in the first of two media appearances that he hoped the North Koreans “fully understand the gravity of what I said.” He singled out Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, saying that Mr. Kim has gotten away with destabilizing the region for too long.
“This man will not get away with what he’s doing,” the president told reporters before the late afternoon meeting with Mr. Tillerson, Nikki Haley, the ambassador to the United Nations, and Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser. “If he utters one threat in the form of an overt threat” or takes action against the United States territory of Guam or against America’s allies, “he will truly regret it and he will regret it fast.”
Mr. Trump dismissed foreign leaders, lawmakers and national security experts who have called his threats rash and even reckless. “My critics are only saying that because it’s me,” Mr. Trump said. “If somebody uttered the exact same words that I uttered, they’d say, ‘What a great statement, what a wonderful statement.’”
Mr. Trump’s morning tweet said that “military solutions” were ready “should North Korea act unwisely.” To reinforce the point, the president later shared a post from the United States Pacific Command stating that it was standing by for orders should the need arise. “#USAF B-1B Lancer #bombers on Guam stand ready to fulfill USFK’s #FightTonight mission if called upon to do so,” the original tweet said.
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