In an apparent race to out-crazy North Korea’s deranged dictator Kim Jong Un, President Donald Trump on Thursday doubled down on his bellicose warning to North Korea, telling reporters that his threat to bring “fire and fury” if North Korea may not have been tough enough, and suggesting that a pre-emptive strike is on the table.
“Maybe it wasn’t tough enough,” Trump said during a lengthy exchange with reporters, CNN reports.
The comments came before a meeting Trump held with Vice President Mike Pence, national security adviser H.R. McMaster and newly installed White House chief of staff John Kelly.
In off-the-cuff remarks on Tuesday, Trump said: “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States.”
“They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen … he has been very threatening beyond a normal state,” Trump said. “They will be met with fire, fury and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before.”
Trump declined to rule out a preemptive strike on North Korea, saying he won’t discuss potential military options.
“We don’t talk about that. We never do. I don’t talk about it,” Trump told reporters at his golf club in New Jersey when asked about a preemptive strike. “We’ll see what happens.”
Trump responded to North Korea’s threat to hit Guam by mid-August with a threat of his own.
“Let’s see what he does with Guam,” Trump said of Kim Jong Un. “He does something in Guam, it will be an event the likes of which nobody has seen before.”
“You’ll see, you’ll see. And he’ll see,” he said.
Watch the interview below via CNN:
