NORTH KOREA | Trump implies nuclear strike is possible

WASHINGTON (TNS) — President Donald Trump issued an implicit warning to North Korea this morning, tweeting the U.S. nuclear arsenal is “far stronger and more powerful” than it ever has been.

A day after warning the United States would hit the North with “fire and fury” if Pyongyang repeated threats that it would strike American targets, Trump took to Twitter and appeared to signal he is prepared to use nuclear weapons against North Korea if conflict breaks out.

The president began the morning by retweeting several Fox News posts, including one declaring Guam-based U.S. Air Force jets are prepared to “fight tonight” should tensions with the North lead to war.

But then Trump weighed in with an implicit threat that only further escalates a fast-developing situation amid reports that the Kim Yong-un’s regime has developed a nuclear warhead that can ride atop its suddenly effective long-range missiles, which some analysts say could reach Chicago.

Trump tweeted that his “first order” after taking office was to “renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal.” He then added that it is “far stronger and more powerful than ever before . .”

In a follow-on tweet, Trump was more measured, writing he hopes “we will never have to use this power,” but he also warned any would-be foes that “there will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world!”