Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) suggested Monday that the Trump administration hold “official talks” with the North Korean regime after several test-launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in the past several weeks.
Lieu, who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Middle East and North Africa subcommittee, tweeted: “US & N. Korea have not had official talks. To say time for talk is over is ridiculous. @realDonaldTrump needs to try diplomacy before war.”
Several successive nuclear crises in North Korea have led to talks, each of which has produced new concessions to the regime, which has then repeated its behavior. The diplomatic talks conducted under President Bill Clinton are often faulted with creating an expectation that the regime could always threaten the world to obtain what it wants.
After several failed missile launches under Kim Jong-un, the third in the Kim communist dynasty, the so-called “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” has successfully deployed new ICBM technology that could theoretically target cities on the U.S. mainland, including and beyond California.
After running as a moderate, mild-mannered liberal wonk, Lieu has emerged as a firebrand social media troll over the past few months, lobbing accusations and insults against the president and his administration. On one section of his congressional website, he maintains a “Cloud of Illegitimacy Clock” to mock the president.
In one tweet, pinned to his Twitter profile, Lieu admonishes the president, “You need to articulate a comprehensive strategy for North Korea,” adding (ironically), “Making foreign policy via Twitter is a bad idea.”
On Sunday, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley tweeted that the U.S. was “done talking” about North Korea.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.