The Atlantic

Can Trump Enforce His Red Line on North Korea?

Presidents before him have tried and failed.
Source: KCNA / Reuters

It was only eight years ago that the United States had just one president at a time. Yet those days have felt much more distant over the past two months as the president-elect, Donald Trump, has set about merrily reshaping U.S. policy 140 characters at a time.

Tuesday evening saw what might turn out to be one of his more consequential Twitter proclamations. In a New Year’s address, North Korea’s supreme leader, Kim Jong Un, had that his country had “entered the final stage of preparation for the test launch of intercontinental ballistic missile.” In response, Trump that “North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of

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