On Wednesday, MSNBC national affairs analyst John Heilemann said that President Trump’s claim that the U.S. has a bigger “nuclear button” than North Korea makes him seem “demented and deranged.”
Trump issued a tweet after North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un said he has a “nuclear button” on his desk in his New Year’s speech.
“North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the ‘Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.’ Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!” Trump tweeted.
North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018
Heilemann criticized Trump for being “cavalier” about a serious subject.
“For all of our lifetimes, any president of any party who treated threats of nuclear war in any way in a cavalier way—we have not seen that really from Republicans or Democrats,” Heilemann said.
“He is not merely being cavalier with a threat about nuclear war,” Heilemann said. “He is being cavalier in a way that makes him seems demented and deranged and makes no serious—of our serious allies or adversaries around the world think that he is a serious person talking in this way about the most serious threat that the world ever faces.”
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