Trump on N. Korea: Tillerson's Negotiations Are a Waste

'We'll do what has to be done!' president tweets at secretary of state
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 1, 2017 12:15 PM CDT
Trump on Tillerson's N. Korea Efforts: 'Save Your Energy'
In this Sept. 29, 2017, file photo, President Trump talks to the media as he walks across the South Lawn of the White House in Washington.   (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

After lamenting the "almost impossible situation in Puerto Rico" and blasting "politically motivated ingrates" there Sunday morning, President Trump moved onto a new topic on Twitter: North Korea and its nuclear weapons program. The Guardian reports that barely 24 hours had passed since Secretary of State Rex Tillerson tried to assuage Americans by calling for calm and noting our "lines of communication" with Pyongyang, when Trump decided to put in his two cents on Tillerson's efforts. "I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man," he tweeted midmorning, using a recent nickname he'd coined for Kim Jong Un.

He followed that up with: "Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done!" Later Sunday afternoon, Trump returned after a several-hour Twitter hiatus to add some more thoughts on the matter, tweeting, "Being nice to Rocket Man hasn't worked in 25 years, why would it work now? Clinton failed, Bush failed, and Obama failed. I won't fail." During a press conference in Beijing Saturday, Tillerson had deemed Trump's rhetoric on the situation "overheated." It's not clear what Trump's "what has to be done" entails. (More President Trump stories.)

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