Sunday shows
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard says Hawaii's terrifying false alarm is why the U.S. must negotiate with North Korea
Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D) on Sunday urged Washington to learn from Saturday's terrifying false alarm, in which Hawaiians were incorrectly instructed to prepare for an incoming ballistic missile. In appearances on ABC's This Week and CNN's State of the Union, Gabbard argued that this mistake should prompt a new commitment to realist diplomacy with North Korea to ensure a missile strike never happens.
"The people of Hawaii are paying the price now for decades of failed leadership in this country, of failure to directly negotiate [with North Korea], to prevent us from getting to this point where we're dealing with this threat today, setting unrealistic preconditions," she said on ABC. It is "important for President Trump to recognize" that the U.S.'s "history of regime change war has led countries like North Korea to develop and hold onto these nuclear weapons because they see it as their only deterrent against regime change," Gabbard continued, so setting denuclearization as a precondition for talks guarantees failure.
Gabbard made similar arguments on CNN, "calling on President Trump to directly negotiate with North Korea, to sit across the table from Kim Jong Un, work out the differences, so that we can build a pathway toward denuclearization," again emphasizing the problem of unrealistic preconditions. Watch her interview with CNN's Jake Tapper below. Bonnie Kristian