Bombast But Dangerous

President Trump, apparently without telling his advisers, delivered a bombastic warning to North Korea that hinted of nuclear war. He has talked this way before, but now he is in charge, and he should be watching his words more carefully. He doesn’t seem to realize that words are dangerous if they provoke another to action. Certainly North Korea is violating limits set by the rest of the world, but bombast is not a guarantee they will step back. Rather, it serves as a spur to build more rockets and nuclear devices. It also gives the North more excuses to repress its people in the name of security. It is a hopeless dream that the country will liberalize its policies and set its citizens free. The top echelon is living too well for that. Trump’s words implied the destruction of the command chain that controls the country, but that would result in the deaths of tens of thousands of men, women and children. There is no good way to free North Korea from its communist overseers, and bombast is definitely not one of them.