Lindsey Graham is beating the war drums on North Korea

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is adamant that war with North Korea is becoming more likely every day. "If nothing changes, [President] Trump's gonna have to use the military option, because time is running out," Graham told The Atlantic on Thursday. He additionally said he thinks there is a 30 percent chance that the U.S. launches a preemptive strike on North Korea — and that the odds would spike to 70 percent if North Korea conducts another missile test.

To his credit, Graham — who has become a frequent golfing partner of the president's — is sober about the consequences of war on the Korean peninsula. Graham told The Atlantic that conflict with North Korea would be an "all-out war" that would necessitate regime change and the removal of nuclear weapons. "There is no surgical strike option," he said. "I am literally willing to put hundreds of thousands of people at risk, knowing that millions and millions of people will be at risk if we don't [stop North Korea]."

Still, Graham believes that there is hope for a peaceful solution to the nuclear crisis, if China removes Kim Jong Un from power or cuts off North Korea's economy and access to oil. The senator also supported negotiating with North Korea "without a whole lot of preconditions," which was suggested by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday, though the White House shot down the idea Wednesday.

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"I'm not taking anything off the table to avoid a war," Graham said. "When they write the history of the times, I don't want them to say, 'Hey, Lindsey Graham wouldn't even talk to that guy.'" Read more on Graham's North Korea concerns at The Atlantic.