Trump sounds tough tone

In case you missed it, President Trump did something that no other president in the history of the United States has ever done: He told an enemy nation that we would protect our borders and our people.

I know, it’s absolutely shocking.

Never before have we heard a leader face off with those who would harm us, and tell them we would not be cowed into submission. Usually, our commanders in chief have simpered quietly, in the hopes that our enemies would leave us alone to enjoy our spacious skies, our amber fields of grain, our purple mountains majesty, and all those fruited plains.

But then along comes the Trumpman, ready to upset the apple cart with his audacious finger in the eye.

I mean, it’s never before happened, in the past two and a half centuries.

You can understand CNN and the other hyperventilating Dickensian heroines getting their corsets in a twist about it. And then we woke up. I watched this past week as the various news media had a veritable meltdown because Donald Trump told that fat pimply crackpot in Pyongyang that we weren’t going to sit back and let him threaten us with a continued display of nuclear tests.

The networks, cable news pundits and most other media outlets in print and on the radio could not believe that Trump had referenced “fire and fury” in his remarks on the fellows in North Korea.

This is what he said: “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States … They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. He has been very threatening beyond a normal state and as I said they will be met with fire and fury and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before.”

Seems perfectly reasonable to me. They want to threaten us with nuclear annihilation (although given their incompetence and their bad haircuts, I’m not so sure they’re up to the task).

I have no problem with our president issuing some strong pre-emptive warnings.

Contrary to what I suggested at the beginning of this column, tongue firmly in cheek, U.S. presidents have generally made an art of telling our enemies not to mess with us.

Of course, the last fellow who occupied the office was too cool to really get all “street” on the guys who wanted to eliminate us from the face of the Earth, but even he was known to wag a finger at the bad boys on occasion.

There was the great Harry Truman who said the following in a futile attempt to get those out of control Japanese to back down after the first atomic bomb hit Hiroshima:

“If [the Japanese] do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth.

“Behind this air attack will follow sea and land forces in such numbers and power as they have not yet seen and with the fighting skill of which they are already well aware.”

If I didn’t know better, I’d say that Trump had actually plagiarized Harry, because the terms used are so similar.

And if Harry isn’t enough, how about Jack? Here’s what JFK had to say about Cuba and Castro on Oct. 15, 1960, during a campaign visit to Johnstown, Pa.:

“... We must let Mr. Castro know that we do not intend to be pushed around any longer and in particular do not intend to be pushed out of our naval base at Guantanamo …”

And how about Reagan, the most eloquent president to stand at any podium since the teleprompter was invented?

Here is what he had to say about real and existential threats to our safety:

“As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people.

“We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it, now or ever.”

So to all of those weakhearted citizens who were appalled that a president would use strong language against a looming enemy, let me quote the greatest commander in chief of all time, the first one:

“To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means for preserving peace.” Amen.