Trump: ‘I’ll Fix The Mess’ That Is North Korea

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in the Rose Garden of the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in the Rose Garden of the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Repeating his rhetoric that the U.S. is “totally prepared” to take military action against North Korea if it needs to, President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday he plans to “fix the mess” that previous administrations left him regarding North Korea.

Responding to questions about reports that North Korea’s top diplomat thinks that Trump’s tweets about Kim Jong Un were a declaration of war, Trump said “it will be devastating” for North Korea if the U.S. decides to take military action against the country.

“[Kim] is acting very badly. He is saying things that should never, ever be said. And we’re replying to those things, but it’s a reply, it’s not an original statement,” he said during a press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy at the White House.

On Saturday Trump tweeted that if North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho “echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won’t be around much longer!”

Ri told reporters Monday that Trump’s tweet was a “declaration of war” and that the country has “every right” to “shoot down the United States strategic bombers even (sic) they’re not yet inside the airspace border of our country.”

Trump said the country should have been “handled 25 years ago, 20 years ago, 15 years ago, 10 years ago, five years ago and it could’ve been handled much more easily.”

“You had various administrations, many administrations which left me a mess. but I’ll fix the mess. So we’ll see what happens with North Korea,” he said.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. He really wants a Nobel Prize. Obama envy persists.

  2. braggadocio: 1 braggart 2 a : empty boasting b: arrogant pretension :cockiness

  3. Avatar for tena tena says:

    O god help us all

  4. Bet he takes credit for the news that Saudi Arabia just announced they would allow women to drive.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

106 more replies

Participants

Avatar for dr_coyote Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for sysprog Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for george_spiggott Avatar for inversion Avatar for chelsea530 Avatar for sickneffintired Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for redstatebluestatewhatever Avatar for sanni Avatar for airportman Avatar for dickweed Avatar for darrtown Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for tena Avatar for primergray Avatar for tsp Avatar for jtx Avatar for tiowally Avatar for dannydorko Avatar for katscherger Avatar for erik_t Avatar for dannysgrandma

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: