Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s “Your World,” Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, criticized President Donald Trump’s handling of North Korea and his tack toward the nation’s dictator Kim Jong-un.
Gabbard called Trump’s use of “charm” with Kim Jong-un a “big mistake,” and says the United States could be seen as repeating what happened with Libya and it’s dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, during the Obama administration.
“Every single day that goes by is a day that North Korea can continue to try to strengthen their nuclear capabilities,” Gabbard said. “So I think President Trump is making a big mistake here in thinking that his own personal charm or his relationship or friendship with Kim Jong-un is going to be enough to make a deal that will achieve our objective of ultimately denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. This is a mistake, because, if you put yourself in Kim’s position, you see how the United States has broken previous agreements that were made. You look at what happened to Gadhafi in Libya, where Gadhafi was promised, hey, if you get rid of your nuclear weapons program, we’re not going to come after you.”
“Well, the United States went after him, toppled Gadhafi. Kim looks at the Iran nuclear deal that was made to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon,” she continued. “President Trump came in and made a decision to tear that agreement up. So, if you’re in Kim’s position, you’re wondering, why should I step into making an agreement to get rid of nuclear weapons, when I don’t know if this president or a future president is going to decide to go back on that agreement, wage a regime change war, or do something else. So this is the problem with President Trump’s kind of shoot-from-the-hip, unpredictable foreign policy. It’s shortsighted. It undermines our national security, and it makes the American people less safe.”
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