Sheldon Richman, the executive editor of the Libertarian Institute, joins Scott to discuss his article, “TGIF: Trump’s ‘Fire and Fury’ Wouldn’t Be the First for North Korea.” Richman details how Americans’ understanding of the Korean War has been utterly distorted and the atrocities the United States carried out upon the North Koreans have been whitewashed. Scott and Sheldon discuss how the United States pushed the North Korean regime into aggressive posturing through continued intervention and simulated aggression and wonder how the U.S. can now come up with a realistic solution to the problem. Richman explains that history shows that you need nuclear weapons to deter the United States from seeking regime change and why it’s ultimately a good thing that no one (outside of Lindsey Graham and John McCain) believe there’s a legitimate military option. Finally Richman details why there’s good reason to doubt that the missiles North Korea has could successfully deliver the nuclear bombs.

Sheldon Richman is the executive editor of the Libertarian Institute and the author of America’s Counter-Revolution: The Constitution Revisited. Follow him on Twitter @SheldonRichman.

Discussed on the show:

• M*A*S*H
• Napalm
• “Americans once carpet-bombed North Korea. It’s time to remember that past,” by Bruce Cumings (The Guardian)
• “Truman refuses to rule out atomic weapons” (History.com)
• Battle of Inchon
• 38th Parallel (Korea)
• “Why Did Truman Really Fire MacArthur? … The Obscure History of Nuclear Weapons and the Korean War Provides the Answer,” by Bruce Cumings (History News Network)
• Korean Armistice Agreement
• “The Korean War, A History. With Bruce Cumings – Part 1” (YouTube)
• Mao Zedong
• Kim Il-sung
• Syngman Rhee
• “This Is What’s Really Behind North Korea’s Nuclear Provocations,” by Bruce Cumings (The Nation)
• Shinzō Abe
• Kim Jong-un
• Anthony Gregory
• Nobusuke Kishi
• “U.S., South Korea start annual war games that infuriate North Korea” (CBS News)
• Doug Bandow
• “North Korea: US not seeking regime change, says Rex Tillerson” (BBC)
• “How the miserable death of Moammar Gadhafi factors into Kim Jong Un’s nuclear ambitions” (CNBC)
• “Chronology of U.S.-North Korean Nuclear and Missile Diplomacy” (Arms Control Association)
• Axis of Evil (David Frum)
• Non-Proliferation Treaty
• Peter Lee (@ChinaHand)
• “Trump: ‘China is stealing from us’” (Forbes)
• “North Korea now making missile-ready nuclear weapons, U.S. analysts say” (Washington Post)
• “Will Ripley: ‘[Nuclear weapons] are an insurance policy to keep the current government in power [in Pyongyang] and to prevent outside attack’” (CNN Transcript)
• “Krauthammer: Public missing point of Trump threats” (YouTube)
• RayMcGovern.com
• Leonid Breshnev
• Seoul
• Dennis Rodman
• United States Forces Korea
• Theodore Postol

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