About That Button, Shrinking The Swamp, Exciting News

Gary Bauer

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: About That Button. . . The left and its media allies are apoplectic this morning after North Korean dictator im Jong Un made this announcement during his New Year's address: "The U.S. should know that the button for nuclear weapons is on my table. The entire area of the U.S. mainland is within our nuclear strike range."

But the left is not upset by Kim's threat to murder tens of thousands or perhaps hundreds of thousands of Americans. Instead, it is in a frenzy over Donald Trump's warning to "Rocket man" to stop threatening us. Last night, the president tweeted:

"Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!"

James Clapper, Barack Obama's director of National Intelligence, blasted the president. "It would almost be amusing if it weren't for the gravity of the subject," Clapper said. "It's almost a manhood thing, when there are potentially millions of lives at stake, and untold death and destruction. . . To me it's very, very disturbing."

Check out these headlines:

"MSNBC Analyst: 'Button' Tweet Makes Trump Seem 'Demented And Deranged'"

"Foreign Relations Dem: Trump's Tweets Make It 'More Difficult For Diplomacy To Work.'"

The first question I would ask of Mr. Clapper and anyone else upset with the president today is this: What is the appropriate presidential response to a dictator who is threatening our citizens with nuclear weapons?

And exactly how is that "diplomacy" working out for us? This headline says it all: "North Korea Preparing For Another Missile Launch: Reports"

We have watched leaders of both parties over the past 24 years attempt to deal with North Korea. Twenty-four years ago, North Korea did not have nuclear weapons or the ability to strike a U.S. city. Yet the Stalinist regime threatened us repeatedly.
The bi-partisan response of our "esteemed" foreign policy establishment was to grovel and essentially pay extortion -- money, food, etc. -- to stop the threats. That feckless policy of appeasement has now put U.S. cities and allies within range of North Korean nukes.

Former Obama officials like James Clapper should hang their heads in shame! Not one so-called "journalist" has the guts to ask them the obvious question: "Well, what did you do to stop this menace?"

By the way, if we wake up one morning and learn that Iran has a nuclear bomb, that will also be the result of Obama's policies.

Let's be clear about this: North Korea did not get nuclear weapons and ICBMs under Donald Trump's watch. It developed them under the "leadership" of the same people who are now demanding that Trump follow the failed policies of the past. I think it is long past time we tried something different.

Here's the bottom line, my friends: The greatest threat facing America today is not Donald Trump's tweets. The greatest threat facing America is that radical regimes like Iran and North Korea feel emboldened to challenge America because of Barack Obama's eight years of appeasement.

Donald Trump's comment conveyed the only fact that Kim Jong Un needs to know: If he fires one of those missiles, we will obliterate him. That is the only thing that will prevent a nuclear war.

Shrinking The Swamp - President Trump is shrinking the swamp! Consider these excerpts from a recent Washington Post analysis:

"President Trump has made a significant down payment on his campaign pledge to shrink the federal bureaucracy, a shift long sought by conservatives. . . By the end of September, all Cabinet departments except Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs and Interior had fewer permanent staff than when Trump took office in January. . .

"The falloff has been driven by an exodus of civil servants, a diminished corps of political appointees and an effective hiring freeze. . . Many [federal workers] chafed as supervisors laid down new rules they said are aimed at holding poor performers and problem workers to account."

According to the Post, the federal government shed 16,000 jobs during Trump's first year in office. By the way, President Trump is leading by example: His White House staff has 110 fewer employees than Obama's.

Trump's efforts to reduce the bloated bureaucracy could not come fast enough. Another report issued by a government transparency group found that the number of government workers earning at least $200,000 a year more than doubled during Obama's presidency.

The report found that "Nearly 30,000 rank-and-file federal employees . . . out-earned each of the 50 state governors." In total, more than 400,000 federal workers earned six-figure salaries in 2016.

It's really nice to get a bonus for a job well done. But can you image getting a $140,000 bonus? Incredibly, one executive at a tiny government agency in San Francisco received the largest government bonus of $141,525 . . . for processing payroll.

Exciting News - I am pleased to announce that we are expanding our media presence in 2018. We have just launched a series of daily radio commentaries on current events and cultural news called "The End of Day Report."

My commentaries can be heard from 6:00 to 6:02 pm (CT) on the Bott Radio Network, which has stations from California to Tennessee. You can also listen live online at BottRadioNetwork.com.
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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