Cartoonish Bellicosity

Since the repressive Kim regime of North Korea failed in its quest to conquer South Korea in the nineteen fifties, the dear leaders of North Korea have been cutting a comical figure with their braggadocio and bellicosity. It did not matter what you were talking about Kim Jong Un's father Kim Jong II always did it better than anyone else and disputing that was deadly if you were in North Korea. Furthermore, like a small yapping dog, Kim Jong II was always shouting absurd threats at South Korea, Japan, and the United States. Now we have his son and successor Kim Jong Un who is also shouting threats that would result in his own destruction if he tried to carry them out!  But it would be a serious mistake to dismiss Kim Jong Un as nothing more than the Pillsbury Doughboy with a bad haircut. The cost of a conventional war with North Korea would be staggering both in terms of human lives and resources, and there is a very good chance that nuclear weapons would come into play before such a war was over. Therein lies the rub. It is one thing to make absurd threats when you do not have the power to carry them out it is quite another thing to make those threats when people have to take them seriously.

Like the Kims, Donald Trump also cuts a comical figure with his outrageous braggadocio and bellicosity. The only reason people do not see him as a cartoon character with a bad haircut is because he controls the most powerful military in the world. This makes him a truly frightening force. He does not have the good sense to listen to career diplomats or historians who know anything about North Korea, or to the generals who are urging him to be cautious. So now we have two blustering, egotistical buffoons trading threats and insults that are likely to result in a tragic miscalculation. This is a terrible time to have an idiot as the President of the United States!