But as the president ramps up the rhetoric, pyongyang shows little sign of backing down calling the President Trumps quote a load of nonsense and announcing a detailed plan to launch missiles towards the u. S. Territory of guam. John bolton is the former u. S. Embassador to the united nations. Embassador, good to have you back with us again. Good to be with you. Paul consensus in washington on the right well, on the left in particular, but even some on the right is that the president s rhetoric on north korea is has been reckless and even dangerous. Do you agree . No, i dont agree. Look, i think you have to consider the context in which the president spoke and thats following eight years of one of the weakest, most feckless american president s weve had in history and following years of american politicians who always say all options are on the table to the point where foreigners think its a verbal tick. I think what the president has done and i think hes done plenty and need to do no more is make it clear to china and north korea, we are in a qualitatively situation and they need to understand that. Your editorial in the journal at the end of last week i thought was right target. Paul i think there are people who think its not a good idea Going Forward for the president of the United States, great global power to get into a tit for tat with kim jong un, north korean government, would you agree with that . I think we had ample sufficiency, i think what we need now is diplomacy from china. I think diplomacy with north korea is a waste of time. With china to make it clear, the seriousness of the military situation and also in my view to talk to the chinese about reunifying the peninsula which i think is the last diplomatic play open to us. Paul the message here is maybe more to china to demonstrate that the u. S. Is serious this time. We mean it when we say they cannot north korea cannot develop an icbm with a nuclear weapon. Is that the main target . Well, i hope, i hope thats the message. I mean, i think weve got two different scenarios, one lets say an attack on guam. Lets be clear, guam is sovereign american territory. Its inhabitants are born citizens of the United States, attacking guim is the equivalent guam is the equivalent of attacking california. Second question is to act preemptively towards Nuclear Program and the American People have a choice. I think the American People have to make this choice, are they prepared to live with a Nuclear Capable north korea into infinity threatening us and civilian population, if theyre prepared to do that as many people like susan rice from the Obama Administration are, they are not going to favor military force. If you dont want to live under that terrorist threat, you to look at it. Paul china said, i assume this was the regime speaking through editorial that if north korea strikes first, they would stay neutral but if the United States took preemptive military action, then they would defend north korea. What do you make of that comment . Well, i think its very interesting and i think the first point is extremely significant and i hope kim jong un reads it clear and clear statement that they would accept american retaliation and the second that they would regard preemptive attack that might induce them to come in is a major factor. Its not technically a statement by the regime but i think you need to take it seriously. So another reason to have a very highlevel diplomat to talk act all of these things. Paul you raised the question susan rice, appeared in New York Times saying, you know, we might just have to live with a Nuclear North Korea and, you know what, thats something we cant do, look at what we did with russia, if they were going to attack us, they knew they would be destroyed and we can just send that message to kim and thats fine, whats wrong with that argument . Everything. Look, number one, these are the same people who assured us in the obama, bush and clinton administrations, we can talk north korea out of its Nuclear Weapons program, carrots and sticks, we will figure it out. 25 years of failure. The notion that we would happily go back to cold war days of mutually ensured destruction, i just find dilutional at any event it will not be the same as i may say paul why is that . Is that because both of them are either more irrational actors than the old soviet leadership was or because theyre simply have vision for what they are trying to do . I think both factor in. We were in the unique situation cold war, two super powers standing off with one another, as people like to say, the communist were atheist. They werent too quick to throw that away whereas the threats from north korea and iran are asymmetrical and much greater threat to the United States because the cost to the regimes, although it may seem total to them is really something that given their aught or authoritarian nature, they might be willing to risk. Its not that one day kim jong un got up to launch missile in los angeles, he would use to threaten the United States in the future. You withdraw all american troops from korea, japan, i will unleash my nuclear capability. Thats what we would have to deal with. Paul also the danger, i assume, from my point of view of proliferation from other countries, south korea, does japan, do other countries say, look, we have to defend ourselves because as much you might like we might like to defend, rely on u. S. Deterrent, we are not sure you will risk your own selfdefense to come to our defense. And thats why to china it has to be said, if you dont stop north korea, if we dont find a way, japan will get nuclear weapon, we already have a nuclears arms race because of saudi arabia, egypt and turkey. Paul thank you, embassador, appreciate it. Thank you, paul. Paul when we come back President Trumps fury threat with backlash, is his tough talk over the top or just what kim jong un needs to hear, our panel weighs in next. The people that were questioning that was it too tough, maybe it wasnt tough enh its a highly contagious disease that can be really serious. Especially for my precious new grandchild. Its whooping cough. Every family member, including those around new babies, should talk to their doctor or pharmacist about getting vaccinated. Upeace of mind. S we had a power outage for five days total. We lost a lot of food. We actually filed a claim with usaa to replace that spoiled food. And we really appreciated that were the webber family and we are usaa members for life. As commander in chief i think he feels necessary to issue a very strong statement directly to north korea but i think what the president was just reaffirming is the United States has the capability to fully defend itself from any attack and defend our allies and we will do so. So the American People should sleep well tonight. Paul that was secretary of state Rex Tillerson wednesday reassuring american that is they can sleep well at night despite escalating tensions between the u. S. And north korea. Democrats and even some republicans criticizing the president for ratcheting up the rhetoric but is his tough talk over the top, lets ask wall street journal Dan Henninger and Columnist Bill mcgurn. Bill, you were speech writer for president george w. Bush, you were intimately in crafting rhetoric with the security people in a wartime situation. Right. What do you make of Donald Trumps rhetoric . I dont find it that sensational. I was in asia when bill clinton came over and said if the North Koreans pursued weapons it would be the end of their country. Paul this was in the 90s. 93. At the end of the day we had a big debate on iran and their Nuclear Ambitions and we had a big debate on whether the preferred wording should be iran cannot be allowed to have Nuclear Weapons or must not be allowed. I would say at the end of the day what matters is the policy, mr. Tillerson says the North Koreans dont understand diplomatic language, they understand it very well, they have been hearing for years. Richard pearl said was asked the question, i think we can negotiate and if we want diplomacy to succeed we have to have made decision that if it doesnt succeed we would take action. Paul defense official under the cold war under Ronald Reagan. You had mattis follow up the president s comments with a Firm Statement that north korea better not risk its regime by some kind of reckless action but tillerson focused on diplomacy and opened even the idea of talking with north korea as long as its Nuclear Program is on the table, is there an inconsistency there . There is an inconsistency. Whats not clear the strategy the United States is developing. You have the president issuing forceful rhetoric. Secretary mattis reinforcing it. Yet secretary tillerson suggesting that we want to negotiate with the North Koreans is an entirely different message altogether. We will negotiate with the chinese, the russians, the iranians, what that means is that theres a leadership, theres a group of people that they themselves will sit down and discuss it among themselves and come to a decision about their best interest. There is not the North Koreans, there is kim jong un. All right, one person who is very unstable, who is dictating policy there and i think paul reinforcing that . They are largely irrelevant. He has murdered most of them in the past. Paul including his uncle. Including his uncle. I think donald trump is on the right track speaking a language that a bully like kim jong un might understand. Paul and so one thing, i think you have to say, trump inherited this mess. The Foreign Policy elites that are cite sizing him now basically are the people, same people who led us weve had 25 years of rhetoric that goes from harsh to soft and negotiations. Again, when bill clinton used the language at the dnc, the times described it it. It hasnt stopped them from doing what they want to do which is get a nubbing weapon, again, i think the answer is that the words have to be backed up by something. Paul and on that point, i think the part of this this message is they have to persuade china that we are serious this time. Right. Paul this isnt like the other times. Crosses the line that threatens American Homeland and american troops and citizens. The missiles wont be aimed at you, they will be aimed at us. You need to understand that we are serious. Here is the issue, bill, if if they dont do anything, if the status quo develops and they get a bomb and icmb like that, then trump has to do something. Well, john bolton made an important point which is that from what we have heard, i think secretary of state tillerson has the right negotiating partner in mind in north korea. We should be talking to china. We need to negotiate with china because it involves the rest of the region, japan, even vietnam, there is the danger that Nuclear Weapons can proliferate in the area if this isnt resolved. I think the United States should be talking directly to china now and let the North Koreans wait until the end of the negotiation. Hope that if china moved to action could stay cool and the biggest thing that they could do is have military contacts in pyongyang is let them know if you take this guy out and you abandon your nukes, we will leave you alone. This is Donald Trumps red line. Whole world is watching and if we fail and get the capacity to strike america, that would be a big message to the rest of the worlds bad guys. Paul still ahead Republican Health care failure, Party Leaders pointing fingers what President Trump and Mitch Mcconnell means for the republican agenda. I said mitch, get to work and lets get it done. They should have had the last one. They lost by one vote. They lost by one vote. For a thing like that t t t t rethink whats possible. Rethink your allergy pills. They lost by one vote. For a thing like that t t t t Flonase Sensimist allergy relief helps block 6 key inflammatory substances with a gentle mist. Most allergy pills only block one. And 6 is greater than one. Flonase sensimist. 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Change the way you wifi. Xfinity. The future of awesome. Our new president has, of course, not been in this line of work before and i think had excessive expectations of how quickly things happen in the democratic process. Paul Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell setting off a war of words with President Trump after suggesting that the president had excessive expectations about what he could expect from a republican congress. The president fired back in a series of tweets blaming mcconnell for the gops Health Care Failure and he had this to say when asked thursday if the majority leader should consider stepping down. Well, i will tell you what, if he doesnt get repeal and replace done and if he doesnt get taxes done, meaning cuts and reform, and if he doesnt get a very easy one to get done in infrastructure, if he doesnt get them done, then you can ask me that question. Paul we are back with Dan Henninger and bill mcgurn. The unseries level is somebody said something very critical about him that somebody happened to be Mitch Mcconnell, guess what is coming back . Donald trump. [laughter] law of nature. The Republican Party is disunited, the Health Care Experience has real consequences and implications or the ability of this party to govern and we are going towards big tax bill, the debt budget. So i think it is not helpful for President Trump to be leaning on the republicans at this point because they dont need anymore division than they already have. Mitch mcconnell probably learned a few things from the health care scrugle. It is not the moment to start changing horses in the middle of this wild herd thats running in four Different Directions. Paul yeah, mcconnell would say, look, i have 52 votes, i can only lose 3 and its very tough to get that. On the other hand, they did promise, kate, for seven years and the president has a point, you cant deliver on something that youve been promising for seven years. Right, theres plenty of blame to go around whether to conservatives and the moderates who were both pulling the Health Care Repeal in Different Directions but to the extent trump had any expectations im not sure excessive expectations is to blame given that the senate did spend several months on this project to know improvement. On the other hand, i think the net beneficiary of this fight is Chuck Schumer who will enjoy the infighting. Paul is repeal and replace on the agenda at all or are we moving in another direction . Its hard to come back, one can hope. What is coming next is the discussion of whether to essentially bail out the insurers on subsidies that they havent received, that they want to continue to receive but hasnt been appropriated by congress. So in theory, republicans should try to get policy victories for either repealing the medical device tax paul in exchange for schumer right, theres a larger bill, bill, donald trump and the Republican Party. One of the dangers that i thought with the failure of health care that trump would conclude, i need to blame the guys, i need to separate with these guys, its a shotgun marriage to use another metaphor and there are factions within the white house, the bannon faction which would just love to be able to take down Mitch Mcconnell, take down paul ryan because they want to remake the Democratic Party in their message on immigration, trade, and Foreign Policy, is trump is his suggestion that hes beginning the divorce . I think he made statements that if the