By David Futrelle
Donald Trump took a few minutes out from his golf vacation today to threaten North Korea with the “fire and fury” of a massive, possibly nuclear, military strike. “They will be met with fire, fury and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before,” a stern-voiced Trump, his arms uncharacteristically crossed, told reporters at his Bedminster golf club.
On Reddit’s TheDonald — the popular subreddit, with nearly half a million subscribers, that is home to the site’s most fervent Trump superfans — the regulars are itching for Trump to pull the trigger.
Some are using the occasion as an excuse to make jokes that are awful in every sense of the word:
![JW_1213 214 points 5 hours ago also if this doesn't go down in history as the Pyongyang gang bang I'll be very disappointed permalinkembedsavereportgive goldreply [–]Hatefullynch1776 20 points 4 hours ago Now I'm going to be too Son of a bitch](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/td7.png?ssl=1)
Others are happily talking about the effect the president’s apocalyptic rhetoric allegedly had on their penises.
![anticusIIKY[?] 3 points 2 hours ago Well I'm fully erect](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/td9.png?ssl=1)
More than a few were happy to write off North Korea’s entire population, greeting the prospect of the literal genocide of the North Korean people with a shrug.
For many TheDonald regulars, the possible annihilation of millions matters far less than the prospect of “triggering” their ideological foes.
![johnbillaby 272 points 5 hours ago Oh man, the vaginas are going to be very upset by this permalinkembedsavereportgive goldreply [–]BarackHusseinBobama1776 194 points 5 hours ago Complaining from wherever](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/td12.png?ssl=1)
There’s the requisite anti-Asian racism:
![GunsAreForFun1776 69 points 5 hours ago Kim's autistic screeching was just heard 'round the world RRREEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeee permalinkembedsaveparentreportgive goldreply [–]JPO398CT 5 points 4 hours ago LLLEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeee FTFY permalinkembedsaveparentreportgive goldreply [–]Peacocking74 3 points 4 hours ago Lmao permalinkembedsaveparentreportgive goldreply [–]REDBEARD4-19-1775TX 1 point 4 hours ago HO REE FUK!](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/td13.png?ssl=1)
And an assortment of other bigotries, because why not use the possibility of nuclear war with North Korea as an opportunity to make jokes about Muslim rapists and “tr*nnies” and a former president many deplorables have decided was secretly gay in addition to being Kenyan.
Only a few commenters struck a note of caution.
![PM_ME_BUTT_STUFFINGPA[?] 13 points 5 hours ago If something does happen to "happen" will our stock market take a hit like 9/11? Or will it be unaffected since pretty much everyone is after NK? permalinkembedsaveparentreportgive goldreply [–]BreadcrumbBernard 32 points 5 hours ago Depends on what happens. If they land a hit on a major city like Seoul or somewhere in Japan, then every stock market will probably take a hit permalinkembedsaveparentreportgive goldreply [–]NIMBLE_NAV_FANMAGA 21 points 5 hours ago Japan has third largest economy in the world in terms of GDP. Shit would get real!](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/td18.png?ssl=1)
Finally, someone they can show a little sympathy to — themselves!
Just a reminder, when then-candidate Trump did an “Ask Me Anything” appearance on Reddit, he didn’t do it in the subreddit where AMA’s traditionally have taken place. He did it in TheDonald. The subreddit’s 470,926 subscribers aren’t fringe characters in Trump World; they are his base.
NK has committed heinous crimes against humanity, yes. That needs to be addressed. Full stop. But that’s not what these guys are after or what they’re discussing. They’re all about getting boners over the idea of actual war and the potential loss of life of innocent civilians from it. And any one else who opposes this is “triggered” Empathy is outlawed I guess…
I..I’m.. ready to just live out my life in the ISS or something. Away from earth.
There is some credence to generals being able to say no were Trump to demand a nuke…as a first strike. The US military has (all but?) codified itself as an entity that does NOT use nukes preemptively. I’m told by a nuke that, at the very least, there would be a significant delay between the order and the firing of the missile in such a scenario.
But in a case where North Korea has already nuked Guam, all bets are off. There might be some arguments for him to consider conventional strategies, but they wouldn’t last nearly as long against what the President wants to do.
Related, this is definitely a good reason to support the efforts of some Senators to establish the US as a non-first strike nation in law. It would give the military and, in the worst case, Congress some extra teeth.
Trump can’t be impeached fast enough. Pence might be a terrible president, but at least he won’t cause WW3 by accident.
@WWTH
And a Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces who’s lost chief command of the armed forces is… good?
Before the election, I regrettably perused the comments on a video of Grace Helbig announcing her support for Clinton. Predictably, Trump fans came streaming in, and I distinctly remember several cries to the effect of “so you want a nuclear war with Russia then?!”
You can draw a couple conclusions about these guys taking into account both posts:
1. America kowtowing to another country is fine as long as that country supports Trump, because what even is democracy.(Also doesn’t hurt if said country is full of white people)
2. Nuclear war is fine if POC are the first victims, because not only are they too short-sighted to anticipate retaliation following an act of (world) war, but they’ve dropped all pretense of the “All Lives Matter” bullshit. Lliterally only white lives matter.
Fuuuuuuck these people are scary.
We’re now in a “but her emails!” meme.
Nagasaki day, and I go online to find out whether we’re having a nuclear war or not.
This time of year used to be called “the silly season” because nothing important happened. Apart from both world wars breaking out.
These «people» (and I use the term loosely), along with alt-righters, /pol and other Trumplings, should be drafted to fight in any war the orange manchild starts.
He is *their* «god-emperor», after all.
That claim that “every single person in North Korea has to be in the military”? I’m no expert on the country, but, based on the books I’ve read, I don’t believe that’s true.
Perhaps the nuclear launch codes should be embedded on page two of a dense document, without pictures or bullet points. Trump would never get past half-way down page one before losing interest.
It’s alright, Trump has created a new company called Trump-Vault tech. He’s gonna make a bunch of fallout shelters. They’ll be great, fantastic, the best fallout shelters ever. Very classy.
Absolutely no chance of radiation leakage. None whatsoever.
They’re talking about literal nuclear war as if it’s a fucking video game. Despicable fucks.
. .. …
My gut reaction is to ask myself why thoses bozos are allowed to vote. Even if it would be horrible to remove voting rights based on.
I feel bad for asians people ; I don’t think a nuclear winter would really help with global warming, but eh, if it would save the earth I would take it as a litteral miracle.
@Ohlmann
It won’t.
The problem is that it will cause, at best, temporary cooling, which will be used as an excuse to not change CO2 emissions. When that temporary cooling wears off, things will be much worse than they were before. For similar reasons, major volcanic eruptions (of the type that have caused climate disruption in the past) won’t fix things either.
Moreover, the problem with CO2 emissions is not merely in global warming. Ocean acidification due to increased CO2 uptake is extremely bad news for anything that has bones or an exoskeleton, and that covers an absolutely colossal number of species (many of which are the best way to clean up pollution in the sea that causes deep water anoxia which kills off almost everything else, etc etc).
Even if NK had in theory 100% conscription, you’d still have to exclude all those too young (from babies upwards), those too old, anyone excluded from the military by reason of disability, PRISONERS – (which, gathered from the testimony of escapees, includes not only people who have been accused of crimes of some sort but also their children born and grown up within the prison system, and quite probably by now their grandchildren), dissidents…
Plus you are more likely to have a situation where joining something military-ish is compulsory for everyone who can’t afford to become a pariah – as with the Hitler Youth by about 1944, the Baathist Party (no party card: no job) and many other instances.
But, hey, any excuse is going to be good enough for these… lovely people (as it was for Al-Qaeda, if memory serves: arguing that all US citizens are responsible for all its government’s actions, including ones who fiercely oppose them. It’s funny how extremes meet).
Yes, I know it’s highly improbable that a nuclear winter will help anything. If by any amazing stretch of luck it happen to help, I would have trouble thinking there isn’t something behind it. It would be close to have a meteor striking a garage and randomly creating a functioning car out of the spare parts.
Related : http://www.cracked.com/article_24894_5-cracks-in-our-nuclear-policy-its-best-not-to-think-about.html
How exactly did mankind survived nuclear apocalypse for so long already ?
@Ooglyboggles
“When in the history of the US would a general ever disobey”
Charles Lee at Monmouth.
…though I don’t think it’s anywhere near the same thing. He wasn’t disobeying a presidential order (obviously we didn’t have the office of President of the United States yet), after all it was a tactical situation rather than something big-picture related; one attack in an eighteenth-century battle is hardly the same stakes as nuclear attack in the 20th or 21st century.
Anyway it’s one famous early case of a U.S. general disobeying orders.
But, yeah, quite different context and not good as a precedent for those who’d hope for someone disobeying Trump.
Nuclear war with China would certainly reduce the rate of global warming. The nuclear winter would be short-lived, but after killing a large fraction of the first world in China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the US — the world economy would be devastated and CO2 emissions would drop precipitously.
Bringing about the apocalypse that we’re worried global warming will cause isn’t perhaps the best way to mitigate global warming, is the only issue with this tactic.
“Can you imagine the triggering that would happen if he used Twitter to declare a war?”
Yes, I can imagine there would be some head scratching at Pentagon on whether this was “real” enough and what exactly should be done.
Maybe in a few weeks Trump’s white house could come up with a proper strike order to save the president’s face.
Hello.
Tss, i still can not see any video here. As someone posted “Russians” from Sting ? Arranged with something like “In North Korea and America, there’s a growing feeling of hysteria… Conditioned to rambling when he gets mad, all over Twitter spouts the Donald…” and so on…
Have a nice day.
Given Trump’s history of fucking over construction workers, I’d rather be experimented on.
Reagan wasn’t trump….
Never heard of circus peanuts, but they look a lot like a foamy candy from the UK, foam bananas and shrimps.
Here’s the good news… likely what will happen is (I hope), Kim will bluster again. Then trump will bluster back (I hope), because that’s what he does. trump doesn’t believe he needs to up the ante to action, because he believes the bluster is action. trump isn’t likely to do anything, because trump isn’t a “do”-er. (I hope)
Arctic Ape:
The Pentagon isn’t going to take action based on a tweet alone. What’s more concerning is how other governments (and markets) might react to war-mongering tweets.
Serious question: should world leaders be banned from tweeting? Trump used to post from a Samsung phone running a known-insecure version of Android. I think he ditched that for an iPhone. Regardless, it’s likely to have vulnerabilities known to state-level actors, plus there’s the whole “leaving your phone unlocked and falling victim to a prank” problem, not to mention weak lock security (what’s the betting that Trump uses “12345” as a PIN?). When you’re at a level where one of your tweets can cause an international incident, and yet there’s no way to be immediately sure that it was actually you who tweeted it… that’s quite a problem.
@Weird Eddie
There’s a suggestion that the only thing that trump could do to improve his image at this point is to have a war. Curiously, this suggestion never includes the fairly important second bit, “…and win, without getting masses of his own citizens and soldiers slaughtered”. Nor does it suggest that he should start a war with someone unambiguously bad in the eyes of most of the world (or at least the bits of it that might vote trump). He might do it just to reinflate his ego.
There’s the possibility that he expects to be stopped by congress, which will let him smear his opponents as weaklings and terrorist-lovers, but it isn’t particularly clear how much ability he has to make plans or follow them through.