Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

Here’s the New York Post:

Better a million dead North Koreans than a thousand dead Americans. The fundamental reason our government exists is to protect our people and our territory. Everything else is a grace note. And the words we never should hear in regard to North Korea’s nuclear threats are “We should’ve done something.” Instead, we should do something. Pyongyang’s Sunday test of a hydrogen bomb of devastating power begs for decisive action. Must we wait until Americans die? A pre-emptive strike against Kim Jong Un’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs would be a terrible thing, demanding a vast military effort (if done properly) and leaving broad destruction in its wake. But that terrible option increasingly appears to be the least bad option. The question is whether we’ll delay action until it’s too late to save American lives.

Notice that they ignore the South Koreans. I wonder how they value South Korean lives? Perhaps 13 cents on the dollar?

Here’s Elton John, er, I mean Trump:

The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. The United States is ready, willing and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary. That’s what the United Nations is all about; that’s what the United Nations is for. Let’s see how they do. It is time for North Korea to realize that the denuclearization is its only acceptable future.

Just to be clear:

1. I have no idea what the optimal policy toward N. Korea is.

2. I think Trump makes both tails more likely (nuclear exchange and N. Korea capitulation), but the most likely outcome remains more of the same. The “problem” is that the tail risks may rise from say 1% to 2% under Trump. That’s still low, but one of those tails is a very bad outcome, should it occur.

I hope readers now have a better understanding of what I meant last year when I claimed that Trump’s reckless personality raised the risk of nuclear war from something like 1% to something like 2%.

PS. Trump started off his talk with some comments that were of zero interest to the UN audience, and included his usual lies.

Fortunately, the United States has done very well since Election Day last November 8th. The stock market is at an all-time high — a record. Unemployment is at its lowest level in 16 years, and because of our regulatory and other reforms, we have more people working in the United States today than ever before. Companies are moving back, creating job growth the likes of which our country has not seen in a very long time. And it has just been announced that we will be spending almost $700 billion on our military and defense.

Job growth has slowed since Trump took office. And do you recall what Trump said about the booming stock market when Obama was President?

PPS. Are a million dead N. Koreans better than one dead American? If not, why not? Please show your work.

PPPS: Trump also said:

We know it kidnapped a sweet 13-year-old Japanese girl from a beach in her own country to enslave her as a language tutor for North Korea’s spies.

How should we value the welfare of that sweet Japanese girl against the lives of 13-year old N. Korean girls. How about South Korean girls? How about undocumented workers in America like Melania? How about Hillary? How about Trump? Again, I prefer that commenters provide precise numerical answers. After all, the NYPost says this is all very simple.

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

Tags:

This entry was posted on September 19th, 2017 and is filed under Trump Derangement Syndrome. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or Trackback from your own site.



