A new Fox News poll shows that a thin majority of American voters believe that military action may be necessary to put an end to Kim Jong Un’s nuclear weapons program.
The national poll found that 51% of voters believe that U.S. military action will likely be needed if we want to prevent North Korea from further nuclear weapons development, while 53% support using said force.
Hmm, could we hear from the 2% of voters who think that military force is necessary…and yet don’t support the use of that force? Those have to be Jill Stein voters, right?
The survey also asked voters to rate the top threat against the U.S.: 38% said North Korea, 25% said ISIS, 18% said Russia, 5% said China, and 4% picked Iran.
Gearing Up for War?
In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, President Trump said that while he was still optimistic about finding a diplomatic way to block Kim Jong Un’s path to a viable, intercontinental nuclear missile, he wasn’t ruling out the possibility of war.
“There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea. Absolutely,” Trump said.
Trump told Reuters that it was still his preference to use a variety of tough economic sanctions to force Kim into compliance, but the deteriorating situation could not be downplayed.
“We’d love to solve things diplomatically but it’s very difficult,” he said.
As has been the norm since his meeting with President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago in early April, Trump had nothing but kind words for his Chinese counterpart.
“I believe he is trying very hard,” Trump said of Xi’s efforts to rein in North Korea. “He certainly doesn’t want to see turmoil and death. He doesn’t want to see it. He is a good man. He is a very good man and I got to know him very well.
“With that being said, he loves China and he loves the people of China,” Trump continued. “I know he would like to be able to do something, perhaps it’s possible that he can’t.”
Essentially, this will come down to which outcome President Xi hates more: An all-out war between the U.S. and North Korea, which would ultimately culminate in the annihilation of the DPRK, or a denuclearized North Korea, which, some in China believe, could eventually lead to the same result. What Trump needs to make clear is that there are no other alternative possibilities. The status quo isn’t working for the U.S. and the civilized world any longer.
And it appears that the American people know it.
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