LAURINBURG — President Donald Trump on Friday doubled down on his rhetorical standoff with North Korea, suggesting the U.S. was ready to respond with military force should the Pyonyang regime “act unwisely.”
Itis a stance that U.S. Rep. Robert Pittenger said he supports.
Pittenger, who was driving through the 9th District that includes Scotland County on Thursday, said the president was correct to tell North Korea that its continued threats will be “met with fire, fury, and frankly power. The likes of which the world has never seen before.”
In an Friday morning tweet, Trump appeared to warn that the US military was on the verge of a strike. “Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!” he tweeted.
“I think he (Trump) has made it clear that America is strong,” Pittenger said. “People have different ways of communicating — Ronald Reagan made it very clear that America was going to build up its military strength and it did.”
Friday’s comments were the third straight day that Trump has used charged language to describe the threat posed by North Korea.
Kim Jung-un, the North Korean leader, has gone on to threat to launch a series of missiles in the direction of the US Pacific territory of Guam, home to two American military bases and 160,000 residents.
“You have a dictator over there and he has a big mouth. We have enormous capacities and I think the President made it clear to him that he will do what needs to be done,” Pittenger said.
According to the congressman, a priority for the Congress and Trump has been America having a strong military and missile defense system.
Since the Trump administration took office, Congress has funded $565 billion for the U.S. military and given troops the first major big raise they’ve had in eight years, according to Pittenger.
“They (North Korea) are very provocative, that’s the only thing they have got in their tool box,” Pittenger said. “It’s a roar to make a lot of noise. The president has made it abundantly clear that if you are serious about this, you are going to be discimated and that will a terrible thing.”
If the tensions do boil over, there will be terrible human loss, but America will do what it must to protect itself, Pittenger said.
Jim Johnston, a member of the Scotland County Republican Party, agreed.
“It is time we drew the line and let North Korea know that we were not going to tolerate anymore of their actions,” Johnston said. “I hope and pray there is a peaceful solution.”
But Jan Schmidt, a former head of the Scotland County Democrat Party, said the tough talk could push the whole world into nuclear war.
“I hope reasonable minds and good will prevail, so we don’t throw the world into war,” Schmidt said.
Neither Johnston or Schmidt believe the current nuclear situation to be reminiscent of the cold war between Russia and America.
“This is not like the Russian situation because I never felt we were dealing with a madman with Russia. With North Korea, we are dealing with an unstable person,” Johnston said.
Schmidt echoed a similar sentiment., “I don’t think Kim Jung-un is that rational of a man, and that makes me nervous.”