Just ahead of a high-stakes summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, two high-profile Republican senators are sniping at one another over how to deal with North Korea.
Sen. Lindsey’s Graham’s proposal to give Trump the power to wage war against the regime was quickly shot down by his Republican colleague, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.
Sen. Paul said Graham is a “danger to the country” for making such a proposal.
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Senator Rand Paul says “Lindsey Graham is a danger to the country by even proposing ideas like authorizing war with Korea, my goodness.†He adds that “serious people†shouldn’t even be discussing that. https://t.co/Vzv6e1JQ8o pic.twitter.com/ACjRvkSbe5
– The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) June 11, 2018
The Kentucky senator said:
Lindsey Graham is a danger to the country by even proposing ideas like authorizing war with North Korea, my goodness. So that should be something that is seen as naïve and seen as something that really serious people shouldn’t even be discussing. If you’ve watched over time, I think what you’ve seen from Lindsey Graham is basically a naive worldview where he believes war is always the answer and that also means that expenditures for war are always the answer. I think that’s bankrupting us as a country, but it’s also gotten us involved in dozens and dozens of wars where it’s not really clear what the American interest is in those wars.
Trump can’t even responsibly handle disputes with American allies
Rand Paul’s tough pushback comes after Graham — never shy about his love of war — said that if the Singapore summit crashes and burns, Congress should give Trump the power to take military action instead.
“If you want to convince North Korea and China that things are different with Trump, then Congress has to have his back,” the South Carolina senator said.
But Trump can’t even handle minor disputes with American allies without metaphorically going nuclear on them. The idea that he can be trusted with blanket authority to wage war against North Korea is nonsense.
As Sen. Paul said, it’s a danger to the United States.
At a time when Trump has demonstrated how reckless and unstable he is, the last thing Congress should be doing is giving him the authorization to wage a potential nuclear war in the Korean Peninsula.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.