RNC Chair: Trump’s ‘Strong Rhetoric’ Necessary to Let Kim Jong-un Know the U.S. Is ‘Serious’

Wednesday on CNN’s “New Day,” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel said President Donald Trump’s “strong rhetoric” on North Korea was necessary to let the nation’s dictator Kim Jong-un “know the United States is serious.”

McDaniel said, “I think you just heard from Secretary Tillerson the president is using rhetoric that will get the attention of Kim Jong-un, somebody who is clearly unstable, who is now making nuclear threats, not just against the United States, but against Guam. This is a perilous situation and I think President Trump contrasts strongly against the stick-your-head-in-the-sand policy of President Obama, who ignored this threat and now we are in a global situation where we have a potential nuclear threat in North Korea, and it is going to take strong rhetoric to let Kim Jong-un know the United States is serious.”

She added, “I think President Trump is exactly what—doing exactly what we want the president to do. He is saying this is what the United States is going to do if you use nuclear weapons. This is a person in Kim Jong-un who tortures his people. He has now created ICBMs and miniature nuclear weapons. He is someone who we should take very seriously. The Obama administration clearly missed the global threat North Korea posed to the United States of America. We have diplomatic channels open. Nikki Haley went to the U.N. this past Saturday and got unanimous support for sanctions, even from Russia and China. Now you have Secretary Tillerson working through back channels to try and de-escalate the situation, but the President of the United States needs to be firm that we will act if Kim Jong-un uses nuclear weapons against the United States of America or our allies.”

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