Trump’s Threat to North Korea Was Improvised
The president’s aides are divided on North Korea, as on other issues, with national security veterans like Defense Secretary Jim Mattis
and Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, the national security adviser, on one side and Stephen K. Bannon, the president’s chief strategist, and his allies on the other.
But during a conference call beforehand that focused on North Korea, Mr. Trump did not offer a preview of what he planned to say — and aides did not press the president, who resists being told what to say, even on a tinderbox issue
that has induced his predecessors to seek the safety of a script.
“They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
“North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States,” President Trump said after
the isolated nuclear-armed country criticized the United States earlier in the day.
The president’s language, which aides say he had used in private, escalated the long-running dispute with North Korea to a new level
and left members of the Trump administration scrambling on Wednesday to explain what he meant.
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s aides knew he planned to deliver a tough message to North Korea on Tuesday, but they did not expect a threat
that rivaled the apocalyptic taunts often used by his target, Kim Jong-un.
While General McMaster and Mr. Mattis consider North Korea a pre-eminent threat
that requires a tough response, Mr. Bannon and others in the nationalist wing argue that it is really just a subset of the administration’s conflict with China and that Mr. Trump should not give more prominence to an unstable rogue operator like Mr. Kim.
While Mr. Bannon has his own channel to the president, he has been shut out of most formal discussions of North Korea by the national security team.
