We have a leader with a backbone in Trump

LETTERS LETTERS@USATODAY.COM President Trump addressed the United

Nations General Assembly and told North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, “Rocket Man,” that if he continued to be a threat, the U.S. would “totally destroy” North Korea.

Moreover, President Trump unapologetically reiterated his “America first” policy and said he expected every other leader to look out for their own country’s interests first. Who could argue with that? Particularly when we’re $20 trillion in debt and can’t shoulder the load for the world anymore.

Naturally, the whiny left is calling Trump a warmonger.

By threatening the very existence of North Korea, Trump is actually sending a signal for someone in North Korea to hopefully stage a coup to save his country from Trump’s promised “fire and fury.”

Just as President Reagan won the Cold War without firing a shot, I predict Trump’s fiery rhetoric will defuse the North Korean crisis.

Isn’t it great to once again have a president who has a backbone? Eugene R. Dunn

Medford, N.Y.

Trump has confirmed that he does in fact

have the ability to deliver a near gaffefree speech off of a prompter, even before the august body of the United Nations.

Unfortunately, he has also reconfirmed that he doesn’t have the ability to deliver a consistent and coherent message. The presi-

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It was refreshing to hear a president of the United States not apologize for being a superpower, and bluntly threaten America’s enemies to act if they either cross a line or don’t back off.

We’re dealing with North Korea, which has no respect for human rights, launches ballistic missles left and right, and has repeatedly threatened to attack the U.S. History has shown us that regimes like this mean what they say. The man who has his finger on our nuclear button has bluntly threatened — in front of the entire world — to completely destroy North Korea unless the U.N. brings it to heel by peaceful means.

A president takes an oath to protect the U.S. against all enemies, and some of them have been trying to get weapons of mass destruction. Do you fight a smaller war now or face the real possibility of a nuclear attack on the U.S. mainland later? These are not easy choices.

What is clear, however, is that this can can’t be kicked down the road anymore. I don’t believe Trump acted irresponsibly. He told it like it is to the U.N. Solve this problem peaceably now, or we will use our military to erase this problem permanently later. Bradford Talamon