President Trump's son Eric Trump said in an interview Sunday that his father should be taken seriously when it comes to protecting the United States.

Speaking to Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” about the president’s recent five-nation tour of Asia, Eric Trump said both his father and Secretary of Defense James Mattis James Norman MattisBiden courts veterans amid fallout from Trump military controversies Trump says he wanted to take out Syria's Assad but Mattis opposed it Gary Cohn: 'I haven't made up my mind' on vote for president in November MORE are not “people who play games.”

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“And I think having three or four aircraft carriers parked right off the peninsula really shows the might of a nation,” Trump told Maria Bartiromo.

The comment is an apparent reference to the three Navy aircraft carrier groups that were deployed last month to the Korean Peninsula.

“And it also makes it very, very clear that we’re not playing. You know, my father’s not playing. Mattis, believe me, you know, these aren’t people who play games,” he added.

“They’re deadly serious about protecting this nation and protecting the free world against lunacy.”

The Pentagon said at the time that the deployment had been planned and was not a response to threats coming from North Korea.

“This was a unique opportunity to show that the U.S. is the only power in the world that can demonstrate that kind of presence and a unique opportunity for them to be together,” a Pentagon spokeswoman told reporters last month.