BLOGAugust 09, 2017

The Nuance of Trump's Hyperbole Probably Won't Translate Well Into Evil Korean Dictator Speak

President Donald Trump promised “fire and fury” against North Korea Tuesday in response to Kim Jong Un’s continued threats of nuclear warfare.

A U.S. intelligence report leaked by the Washington Post said that North Korea has successfully built a miniaturized nuclear warhead. The regime is estimated to have as many as 60 nuclear weapons, and U.S. officials believe that North Korea has an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.

If North Korea continues to threaten the U.S., “they will be met with fire and fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before,” Trump said Tuesday at an event in New Jersey.

On radio Wednesday, Glenn pointed out that Trump tends to speak with similar hyperbole for virtually every topic; however, the problem is that a dangerous foreign leader like Kim does not understand that.

Moments before he made the comment about North Korea, Trump spoke about the ongoing opioid crisis in the U.S. Fueled by prescription medications, drug overdose deaths have reached a record high. Trump called opioids a health crisis “the likes of which we have not seen.”

“As an American who has listened to Donald Trump for years, he’s not talking about nuclear war,” Glenn said, going on to recommend Trump follow the classic “speak softly and carry a big stick” advice.

GLENN: Okay. So here's what you need to know this about North Korea. Yesterday, after receiving almost daily threats from North Korea's leaders and hearing that they may have developed miniaturized nuclear weapons, President Donald Trump yesterday made what for an American president was unprecedented. A statement that he made. He threatened North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un that if these threats against the United States don't stop...

DONALD: They will be met with fire, fury, and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before.

GLENN: He repeated it twice yesterday. Now, as an American who has listened to Donald Trump for years, he's not talking about nuclear war. As a guy who knows that just a few years before he said this, he was talking about the opioid crisis. And this is what he said about that...

DONALD: An opioid overdosed us have nearly quadrupled since 1999. It is a problem the likes of which we have not seen.

(chuckling)

GLENN: Just a few minutes before, he was talking about another crisis, the likes of which the world had never seen before. This is something that President Trump always says. He won with an unprecedented, you know, margin of victory that the world had never seen before. He had put together a grassroots effort the likes of which the world had never seen before. So we as Americans understand this.

I'm not sure that Kim Jong-un understands this. This is why -- when you're the president of the United States, you must speak softly and carry a big stick. That's always been the way of the American president. Know that you have power, but don't boast about that power.

North Korea did exactly what North Korea would be expected to do: They responded. Now, for the average person, when you hear that he says, quote, the KPA strategic force is now carefully examining the operational plan for making enveloping fire at areas around Guam, with medium to long-range strategic ballistic rockets in order to contain the US military bases on Guam, including Anderson Air Force Base.

What is he saying there? Because what the press reported yesterday was, he was going to attack Guam. Which to the average American is like, what? Why -- I mean, why are you throwing Guam into this? Poor people of Guam.

The reason why is because that is a strategic base for the United States. And if we were ever going to launch a strike against North Korea, Guam would be the place where all of our bombers would be hanging out. And so what is he saying?

He is responding to hyperbole with an actual threat and a plan. I know how you're going to do it. If you're going to -- if you're going to actually bomb us, you are going to use Anderson Air Force Base.

And so I just want you to know, right now, look at the rockets. Understand, they're all now pointed to Anderson Air Force Base.

So you're not going to have a base to base your operations from in Guam. He also said that they have plans by the -- that any plans by the US to execute a preemptive strike or to decapitate him would be met with an all-out war, quoting, wiping out all the strongholds and enemies, including the US mainland.

Now, here's the part that I am torn on: One, I am really happy to have a president that is willing to say, it's an evil empire, period. It's an evil empire, and it's not going to stand. That's the way we won the Cold War, by being very clear on what evil looks like.

Kim Jong-un and all of the Kims that have reigned before him are evil. There are not crazy. They are not crazy. They are evil. They are communists that will starve their own people to death. And anyone who stands in their way, it's not you that is thrown in prison: You're executed. And your family is thrown into prison for not one, but three generations.

It's an evil empire. And so I'm really happy to have a president say, "This is evil, and we're not going to stand for it." And then because of Syria, we know that he means it.

However, not all situations are the same. Here's what you really need to know: There is not a consensus within the intelligence community over North Korea's nuclear capability. We're not sure.

We're not sure that they could make good on their threats. But what is crystal clear is the devastating effects of any war. This is why I have been saying for 15 years, North Korea and Iran must never have the capability of nuclear war.

And the world must have harsh sanctions on Iran and North Korea. Because the moment they have missiles, the moment they have a nuclear weapon, you have to take them seriously, and there are no good options left.

How many years have we been saying that? North Korea now, we have run out of time. And instead of talking about what does this actually mean, the media is talking about Donald Trump.

I'm torn. I like a president who is clear on evil. I don't like a president who shoots from the hip and can make things worse because another country doesn't understand exactly what he meant.

When he said this last night, I have to tell you, it chilled me to the bone every time I heard it. Because that's not the words of an American president. Those are the words of people like the people that run Iran. That's the kind of language that they use and they understand. The United States is different. The United States should have believe out last night and said, "Rex Tillerson is on a plane going to China right now, and he will be in Beijing by the morning."

This is a problem that the entire world agrees on. And in an unprecedented move, the United Nations Security Council, including China and Russia, have all said the harshest sanctions are going to be imposed against North Korea. And it's already underway.

The United States is not going to be bullied, and we're not going to be frightened by a tinpan alley HEP dictator.

He's not crazy. He's evil. And evil, the world will not side with. Now, let's get back to work.

That's what the president should have said.

What you must take away from this that no one is giving you is that Seoul, South Korea, is 35 miles away from the 38th parallel. That's the DMZ, the demilitarized zone. It's 35 miles away.

Any attack by the US against North Korea will almost certainly set into motion a series of events that would bring devastation to that nation, along with massive civilian and military casualties, perhaps for sure in the -- the six-figure range. Perhaps in the seven-figure range.

Seoul has 20 million people living in it. It's 35 miles away. Since the 1950s, South Korea, has built armaments and built weapons to do one thing: Destroy South Korea and Seoul, in particular, within 24 hours. We have to be 100 percent accurate for them not to strike Seoul. Or, God forbid, Tokyo.

North Korea now has over 1,000 missiles pointed directly at Seoul. There are 37,000 American troops stationed in South Korea. Not to mention that South Korea's economy is the 11th largest in the world. An all-out attack against North Korea would be a devastating blow to their economy and our economy.

Forget about the deaths of people you've never met on the other side of the planet. This will impact you and your family for a very long time. And we'll all deal with the deaths that we failed to prevent or the deaths that we were part of causing on a march to war later.

The global situation now is tenuous, at best. The domino effect of this is global war. Now, these are the cold, hard facts. There is no good way out of this anymore.

The best option we have is to apply sanctions, hold the rest of the world together, cross our fingers, say a few prayers, and hope this ends like the Cuban missile crisis did. And it passes in the night.

Anything that beats the drum of war in this situation is dangerous. One more thing: Last night, I watched -- I watched the media. And, boy, it was like watching two different worlds. One rah-rah, one totally against. And not totally against because of the facts that I just gave you. Totally against because the president just said these crazy things.

There was a point where I believe that I just -- I just -- I mentally snapped on the media. I'm just totally done with the media. They are not helping us in any way, shape, or form.

By coming out and spending literally two hours last night just talking about the president's language, I had a real hard time taking it from CNN, seeing that I was standing in the news pit. I used to call it the pit of disrepair with all of the angry, disgruntled, and hopeless reporters at CNN, listening to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And hearing him say things like, "They will die in the fiery fury of the Islamic State."

Saying things -- starting a speech before and after, oh, Allah. Give me the strength to hasten the return of the Promised One. Both of those things are end times Scripture for them. It is like -- it's like any crazy person standing up who is a Christian, and saying, "You know what, we've got to start a nuclear war because Jesus is going to come back soon." That's exactly what they're saying.

And after standing in that room and hearing all of them dismiss Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the leaders of Iran and the Kim family for years -- well, they're just saying this. They're just a dictator. They just -- this the way -- they're not really going to do those things.

For them to analyze every movement of our president, who made I think a bad statement, but all of us here in America know that's not what he meant. And for them to -- to scrutinize every word, as if that's exactly what he meant, after two decades of sitting around saying, "No, that's not what the Kim family means. That's not what the leaders of Iran mean," when they are building nuclear weapons -- it is your excuses, Mainstream Media, it is your excuses. Your unwillingness to take dictators and people who will kill people and are currently killing people, just because they're women. Just because they are gay. Just because they're Christian.

Your unwillingness to listen to people who are actual killers is what got us in this situation. And any media source that isn't telling you these things today, you need to abandon and go find one that is telling you the truth.

RADIO

Could passengers have SAVED Iryna Zarutska?

Surveillance footage of the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, NC, reveals that the other passengers on the train took a long time to help her. Glenn, Stu, and Jason debate whether they were right or wrong to do so.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: You know, I'm -- I'm torn on how I feel about the people on the train.

Because my first instinct is, they did nothing! They did nothing! Then my -- well, sit down and, you know -- you know, you're going to be judged. So be careful on judging others.

What would I have done? What would I want my wife to do in that situation?

STU: Yeah. Are those two different questions, by the way.

GLENN: Yeah, they are.

STU: I think they go far apart from each other. What would I want myself to do. I mean, it's tough to put yourself in a situation. It's very easy to watch a video on the internet and talk about your heroism. Everybody can do that very easily on Twitter. And everybody is.

You know, when you're in a vehicle that doesn't have an exit with a guy who just murdered somebody in front of you, and has a dripping blood off of a knife that's standing 10 feet away from you, 15 feet away from you.

There's probably a different standard there, that we should all kind of consider. And maybe give a little grace to what I saw at least was a woman, sitting across the -- the -- the aisle.

I think there is a difference there. But when you talk about that question. Those two questions are definitive.

You know, I know what I would want myself to do. I would hope I would act in a way that didn't completely embarrass myself afterward.

But I also think, when I'm thinking of my wife. My advice to my wife would not be to jump into the middle of that situation at all costs. She might do that anyway. She actually is a heck of a lot stronger than I am.

But she might do it anyway.

GLENN: How pathetic, but how true.

STU: Yes. But that would not be my advice to her.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

STU: Now, maybe once the guy has certainly -- is out of the area. And you don't think the moment you step into that situation. He will turn around and kill you too. Then, of course, obviously. Anything you can do to step in.

Not that there was much anyone on the train could do.

I mean, I don't think there was an outcome change, no matter what anyone on that train did.

Unfortunately.

But would I want her to step in?

Of course. If she felt she was safe, yes.

Think about, you said, your wife. Think about your daughter. Your daughter is on that train, just watching someone else getting murdered like that. Would you advise your daughter to jump into a situation like that?

That girl sitting across the aisle was somebody's daughter. I don't know, man.

JASON: I would. You know, as a dad, would I advise.

Hmm. No.

As a human being, would I hope that my daughter or my wife or that I would get up and at least comfort that woman while she's dying on the floor of a train?

Yeah.

I would hope that my daughter, my son, that I would -- and, you know, I have more confidence in my son or daughter or my wife doing something courageous more than I would.

But, you know, I think I have a more realistic picture of myself than anybody else.

And I'm not sure that -- I'm not sure what I would do in that situation. I know what I would hope I would do. But I also know what I fear I would do. But I would have hoped that I would have gotten up and at least tried to help her. You know, help her up off the floor. At least be there with her, as she's seeing her life, you know, spill out in under a minute.

And that's it other thing we have to keep in mind. This all happened so rapidly.

A minute is -- will seem like a very long period of time in that situation. But it's a very short period of time in real life.

STU: Yeah. You watch the video, Glenn. You know, I don't need the video to -- to change my -- my position on this.

But at his seem like there was a -- someone who did get there, eventually, to help, right? I saw someone seemingly trying to put pressure on her neck.

GLENN: Yeah. And tried to give her CPR.

STU: You know, no hope at that point. How long of a time period would you say that was?

Do you know off the top of your head?

GLENN: I don't know. I don't know. I know that we watched the video that I saw. I haven't seen past 30 seconds after she --

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: -- is down. And, you know, for 30 seconds nothing is happening. You know, that is -- that is not a very long period of time.

STU: Right.

GLENN: In reality.

STU: And especially, I saw the pace he was walking. He certainly can't be -- you know, he may have left the actual train car by 30 seconds to a minute. But he wasn't that far away. Like he was still in visual.

He could still turn around and look and see what's going on at that point. So certainly still a threat is my point. He has not, like, left the area. This is not that type of situation.

You know, I -- look, as you point out, I think if I could be super duper sexist for a moment here, sort of my dividing line might just be men and women.

You know, I don't know if it's that a -- you're not supposed to say that, I suppose these days. But, like, there is a difference there. If I'm a man, you know, I would be -- I would want my son to jump in on that, I suppose. I don't know if he could do anything about it. But you would expect at least a grown man to be able to go in there and do something about it. A woman, you know, I don't know.

Maybe I'm -- I hope --

GLENN: Here's the thing I -- here's the thing that I -- that causes me to say, no. You should have jumped in.

And that is, you know, you've already killed one person on the train. So you've proven that you're a killer. And anybody who would have screamed and got up and was with her, she's dying. She's dying. Get him. Get him.

Then the whole train is responsible for stopping that guy. You know. And if you don't stop him, after he's killed one person, if you're not all as members of that train, if you're not stopping him, you know, the person at the side of that girl would be the least likely to be killed. It would be the ones that are standing you up and trying to stop him from getting back to your daughter or your wife or you.

JASON: There was a -- speaking of men and women and their roles in this. There was a video circling social media yesterday. In Sweden. There was a group of officials up on a stage. And one of the main. I think it was health official woman collapses on stage. Completely passes out.

All the men kind of look away. Or I don't know if they're looking away. Or pretending that they didn't know what was going on. There was another woman standing directly behind the woman passed out.

Immediately springs into action. Jumps on top. Grabs her pant leg. Grabs her shoulder. Spins her over and starts providing care.

What did she have that the other guys did not? Or women?

She was a sheepdog. There is a -- this is my issue. And I completely agree with Stu. I completely agree with you. There's some people that do not respond this way. My issue is the proportion of sheepdogs versus people that don't really know how to act. That is diminishing in western society. And American society.

We see it all the time in these critical actions. I mean, circumstances.

There are men and women, and it's actually a meme. That fantasize about hoards of people coming to attack their home and family. And they sit there and say, I've got it. You guys go. I'm staying behind, while I smoke my cigarette and wait for the hoards to come, because I will sacrifice myself. There are men and women that fantasize of block my highway. Go ahead. Block my highway. I'm going to do something about it. They fantasize about someone holding up -- not a liquor store. A convenience store or something. Because they will step in and do something. My issue now is that proportion of sheepdogs in society is disappearing. Just on statistical fact, there should be one within that train car, and there were none.

STU: Yeah. I mean --

JASON: They did not respond.

STU: We see what happens when they do, with Daniel Penny. Our society tries to vilify them and crush their existence. Now, there weren't that many people on that train. Right?

At least on that car. At least it's limited. I only saw three or four people there, there may have been more. I agree with you, though. Like, you see what happens when we actually do have a really recent example of someone doing exactly what Jason wants and what I would want a guy to do. Especially a marine to step up and stop this from happening. And the man was dragged by our legal system to a position where he nearly had to spend the rest of his life in prison.

I mean, I -- it's insanity. Thankfully, they came to their senses on that one.

GLENN: Well, the difference between that one and this one though is that the guy was threatening. This one, he killed somebody.

STU: Yeah. Right. Well, but -- I think -- but it's the opposite way. The debate with Penny, was should he have recognize that had this person might have just been crazy and not done anything?

Maybe. He hadn't actually acted yet. He was just saying things.

GLENN: Yeah. Well --

STU: He didn't wind up stabbing someone. This is a situation where these people have already seen what this man will do to you, even when you don't do anything to try to stop him. So if this woman, who is, again, looks to be an average American woman.

Across the aisle. Steps in and tries to do something. This guy could easily turn around and just make another pile of dead bodies next to the one that already exists.

And, you know, whether that is an optimal solution for our society, I don't know that that's helpful.

In that situation.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Max Lucado on Overcoming Grief in Dark Times | The Glenn Beck Podcast | Ep 266

Disclaimer: This episode was filmed prior to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. But Glenn believes Max's message is needed now more than ever.
The political world is divided, constantly at war with itself. In many ways, our own lives are not much different. Why do we constantly focus on the negative? Why are we in pain? Where is God amid our anxiety and fear? Why can’t we ever seem to change? Pastor Max Lucado has found the solution: Stop thinking like that! It may seem easier said than done, but Max joins Glenn Beck to unpack the three tools he describes in his new book, “Tame Your Thoughts,” that make it easy for us to reset the way we think back to God’s factory settings. In this much-needed conversation, Max and Glenn tackle everything from feeling doubt as a parent to facing unfair hardships to ... UFOs?! Plus, Max shares what he recently got tattooed on his arm.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Are Demonic Forces to Blame for Charlie Kirk, Minnesota & Charlotte Killings?

This week has seen some of the most heinous actions in recent memory. Glenn has been discussing the growth of evil in our society, and with the assassination of civil rights leader Charlie Kirk, the recent transgender shooter who took the lives of two children at a Catholic school, and the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, how can we make sense of all this evil? On today's Friday Exclusive, Glenn speaks with BlazeTV host of "Strange Encounters" Rick Burgess to discuss the demon-possessed transgender shooter and the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk. Rick breaks down the reality of demon possession and how individuals wind up possessed. Rick and Glenn also discuss the dangers of the grotesque things we see online and in movies, TV shows, and video games on a daily basis. Rick warns that when we allow our minds to be altered by substances like drugs or alcohol, it opens a door for the enemy to take control. A supernatural war is waging in our society, and it’s a Christian’s job to fight this war. Glenn and Rick remind Christians of what their first citizenship is.

Glenn's Show Prep

The Nuance of Trump's Hyperbole Probably Won't Translate Well Into Evil Korean Dictator Speak

Could passengers have SAVED Iryna Zarutska?

Transcript

Max Lucado on Overcoming Grief in Dark Times | The Glenn Beck Podcast | Ep 266

Are Demonic Forces to Blame for Charlie Kirk, Minnesota & Charlotte Killings?

Here’s what we know about the suspected Charlie Kirk assassin