On Tuesday, Donald Trump made headlines once again by threatening potential war against North Korea. Less than 24 hours later and the president decided to defend his remarks by lashing out on social media.
Trump on North Korea
When Donald Trump kicked off his campaign for president back in June 2015, he did so by accusing illegal immigrants from Mexico of being "rapists" and "murderers." Since that day, the former host of "The Apprentice" has made a name for himself with his controversial rhetoric and questionable statements, many of which have been debunked by fact checkers.
Despite this, the billionaire real estate mogul was able to find enough support in the Republican primary and later the general election and ended up pulling off the shocking upset win over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton last Election Day. While Trump has been accused of crossing the line on multiple occasions, it's his actions dealing with foreign policy that have gotten him the most backlash. While speaking to reporters on Tuesday about the dangerous opioid crisis in the country, the president switched gears and addressed the recent threat from North Korea, warning the country that they could come under heavy "fire and fury" in the near future. After criticism, Trump elaborated further during a August 9 tweetstorm.
My first order as President was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 9, 2017
Taking to Twitter on Wednesday morning was Donald Trump was decided to open up and speak out further on his aforementioned comments about North Korea.
"My first order as President was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal," Trump tweeted out, before adding, "It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before."
...Hopefully we will never have to use this power, but there will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 9, 2017
In a follow-up tweet, Donald Trump continued on with his defense.
"Hopefully we will never have to use this power," Trump posted, while concluding, "there will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world!" Despite Trump's plea and defense, the majority of the mainstream media was critical of his words, with many warning that it could lead to a dangerous situation down the line if North Korea decided to act out.
President Trump's "fire and fury" warning to North Korea is said to have been entirely improvised, surprising aides https://t.co/ql2cQWXegJ
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 9, 2017
Next up
While Donald Trump continues to go rogue when it comes to foreign policy, he also has many other issues to worry about in the United States.
From his failure to repeal and replace Obamacare, his lack of progress on immigration reform, and the scandal surrounding himself and Russia only growing by the day, Trump is now facing an approval rating of just 35 percent, which doesn't look to be increasing at any point in the near future.