‘Dotard’ vs. ‘Rocket Man’: Will the war of sanctions and words turn real?

President Trump took a concrete step to contain North Korea’s nuclear and ICBM ambitions Thursday, signing an executive order targeting the North’s trading partners.

“It is unacceptable that others financially support this criminal rogue regime,” the president said, adding, “Foreign banks will face a clear choice. Do business with the United States, or facilitate trade with the lawless regime in North Korea.”

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin directed his department to suspend U.S. account access for foreign banks that cooperate with North Korea and facilitate significant transactions with it.

“Foreign financial institutions are now on notice that going forward they can choose to do business with the United States or with North Korea, but not both,” he said.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, whom Trump dubbed as “Rocket Man” in his UN speech Tuesday, responded angrily.

As a man representing the DPRK and on behalf of the dignity and honor of my state and people and on my own, I will make the man holding the prerogative of the supreme command in the U.S. pay dearly for his speech calling for totally destroying the DPRK.

I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged U. S. dotard with fire.

The U.S. has recently stepped up flights near the North Korean border using advanced stealth and 5th generation fighters.

Perspectives

Russia on North Korea: “We’re witnessing a very dangerous confrontation spiral” | CNN

At the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, Sergey V. Lavrov, Russia foreign minister, said his country condemns North Korea’s “nuclear missile adventures.”

However, “military hysteria is not just an impasse, it’s a disaster,” he said during his speech to the UN.

“We’re witnessing a very dangerous confrontation spiral around [North Korea],” Lavrov said.

5 things to know about Trump’s new North Korea sanctions | TheHill

President Trump signed an executive order Thursday slapping new travel and economic sanctions on North Korea, as the administration seeks to pressure Kim Jong Un in a showdown over the North Korean leader’s nuclear program. Trump signed the order at the United Nations, where he expressed frustration that the international coalition had not done enough to stand up to Kim’s provocations. Earlier this week, the president vowed to “totally destroy” North Korea if it continued along the nuclear path. Here are five things to know about the new sanctions: Sanctions seek to cut off North Korean cash In an effort to cut off the North Korean leaders’ money, the new sanctions aim to give financial institutions a choice: Do business with the United States or do business with North Korea.

Reactions

Got to love this, Kim Jong-un's official? response to "Rocket Man" dig https://t.co/dlPP4mELbD @StephenAtHome

— Alan Aitken (@chapeauxx) September 21, 2017

And Kim responds with "Dotard" — 2017 is so ridiculous

— J. Turner (@CPTAlaska) September 21, 2017

Who gets to read Trump the definition of "dotard"

— Ashley Feinberg (@ashleyfeinberg) September 21, 2017

Kim Jong Un on Trump:

"Unprecedented rude nonsense"
"Mentally deranged"
"Rogue"
"Gangster"
"Dotard"

READ NORTH KOREA'S FULL STATEMENT. pic.twitter.com/UlYQvsW0cr

— Erin Schrode (@ErinSchrode) September 21, 2017

Merits of the insult aside, "dotard" is a fantastic word. Kim must have a fustian speechwriter.

— Blake Hounshell (@blakehounshell) September 21, 2017

Kim Jong Un 's use of the word "dotard" twice in one attack on Trump is pretty 1800s. Early 1800s. pic.twitter.com/pRN4Xe2d8d

— Richard Gowan (@RichardGowan1) September 21, 2017

Final thoughts

We’ve never had a president in the modern era with Trump’s flair for public coarse language, name-calling, and blunt speaking. We’ve never had a U.S. president successfully stand up to North Korea in their quest for weapons of mass destruction. Whether Trump will prevail is still an open question. The stakes are still very high, with 11 million people in Seoul living under a daily threat of annihilation (they barely notice).

North Korea would like nothing more than a military response from the United States, so they can escalate at will and have China on their side. The U.S. needs physical restraint, although if North Korea makes a strong enough move that results in deaths, this could quickly escalate into a military skirmish or worse.

I suspect that it will come to some kind of military action, though keeping the Chinese out of it and limiting the scope will be a difficult diplomatic task, one that must be dealt with before a single shot is fired.