This NK war threat needs a much more skeptical look, esp. at Trump

[dixiegrrrrl]

What's the basis of the story, where did it come from, and how WaPo or other papers get the technical information?

this sounds like Bannon/Miller happy news.
Or Russia, who vowed just a few days ago that Trump will get "payback".

Takes the ink away from other Trump problems and from his "vacation" activities.

Which deserve a closer look.

Trumpknows he is really screwed by the investigations on so many levels, and the recent public news that Mueller was going to be looking at the money laundering as a first step of other charges.

Trump announces a sudden long vacation, and jaunts off to New Jersey to "work.
While there, he makes Sec. Ser. operate from a long distance
and he shuts reporters in a room with covered windows, AGAIN.

Then he announces a sudden trip to the one place he has been avoiding since he moved into the WH...
to Trump Tower, "for a series of meetings".
ONE week after Sec. Ser. has moved OUT of the Tower, instead of 1 floor below.
(remember the tower has several secret exits )

Almost immediately Trump announces a war threat. The words he used he was reading from somewhere in front of him, and he repeated the war-fire-etc sentence word for word, but in the 2nd telling, he stumbled, looked at the paper to make sure of what to say, and finished sentence.
He totally was detached emotionally..watch the news tapes again.

Assuming someone smarter than Trump is behind all this...given the above facts....
what is the next thing that happens?

[global1]

1. Deflect - Keep Them Scared - Act Crazy......

Trump doesn't look like he is taking this threat seriously - why? Maybe because he knows its not a real threat. Just something they've created to take the MSM off the Russian/Mueller story.

He keeps on tweeting - acting like a crazy man - just to keep us scared of what he might do.

Yet all the while - I bet he'll keep playing golf. Hmmmmmm......

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. It can be all of the above.

North Korea has been a serious threat for some time, our lack of policy has meant any action Trump takes will have an outsized effect, his irrational ramblings will only provoke North Korea further, "preventive war" is no longer an option, and Trump is dealing with investigations and falling numbers. It's ugly, all the way around.

[Solly Mack]

3. It was an intelligence assessment. Info on NK and their new capabilities.

Then Trump tweeted his blowhard braggadocious bullshit.

And now we are here -> @

[panader0]

4. Lil' Kim knows that the US can annihilate N Korea.

He may have one or two small warheads out of the roughly 60 N bombs
they have. The US has hundreds close to N Korea. So I really don't think
Lil' Kim wants a nuclear war. His country would disappear. So might a few
targets in the US. The damage to S Korea would be horrific.
I thing Kim is doing this to be in a better bargaining position when he
goes to the table, which is what I believe he will do.

[Solly Mack]

5. Yes. KJU wants an acknowledged seat at the big people's table.

And Trump would do well to tone down the rhetoric.

[panader0]

6. The US will have to accept that N Korea is a nuclear power,

as we did with India and Pakistan.
The proximity of Seoul to N Korea is a major factor.
Oh yeah, fuck Trump.

[Solly Mack]

7. Yes, and as always - fuck Trump.

[bucolic_frolic]

8. He thinks it's a PR Game

Deflect, Deny, Obfuscate, Bluster

Look at what he threw at Sen. Blumenthal yesterday

Today it's this hocus-pocus

He's an amateur at this game, he's used to dealing with zoning boards, banks, and people he can threaten

No one's ever bitten back

[L. Coyote]

9. VOTE ... who would you rather have as President? @RealDonaldTrump -- OR -- A small baked potato

You want to know how serious the situation really is, ask yourself the question:

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[stevenleser]

10. It doesn't and I will tell you why.

1. North Korea is bragging about it via their state media and issuing threats about where they would attack first.

2. Trump and his admin have done zero to prepare for a war. We would need a massive deployment to South Korea and to various staging areas of men and materiel that would take many weeks to get in place. We can revisit your contention if movement of people and stuff begins to occur.

3. South Korea, Japan, the Philippines and other neighbors of the Korean Peninsula would bbe the first to object if they thought this was bullshit since they would pay the price for any conflagration that breaks out.

4. It was an intelligence assessment, and that community isn't exactly fans of Trump.

[debsy]

11. not sure what happens next but wonder about the past...

Call me a conspiracy theorist if you will but what is Dennis Rodman's relationship to Trump? Everyone was wondering why he went to NK - and he has been there twice now. What if the conspiracy between Russia/tRump goes beyond what we are being bombarded with daily... What better way to dominate the world than by acting like they are enemies when they are actually working together. Divide and conquer by any means. What if they have been planning this for years and it is now being put into motion? I put absolutely nothing past the monster who is occupying the WH or any of his "friends" and minions, including most Republicans in Congress.

[dixiegrrrrl]

12. Trump is far off all the known charts that anything is possible.

Interesting point, about Rodman. That had tickled my brain, too.

And welcome to DU!