“Saber Rattling” is a historical term that means putting a military unit in a threatening position near another country, or making threatening statements.

Such actions should not be taken unless one is sure the action will end with a desired effect or else one of two possibilities will occur. One is the target country thumbs its nose at the threat making the saber rattler look foolish. This gives the one making the threat two options. Carry through on the threat starting a war, or tuck tail and slink away. Verbal threats can be just as humiliating unless actions to back them up are taken. The other possibility is making a threat and the other county takes action first. The best example of this is the 1967 Six Day War involving Israel and its neighbors.

This brings us to Trump making himself look extremely foolish and losing credibility by saying he was moving the Carl Vinson Battle Group to North Korea. It’s irresponsible in so many ways. He said he had ordered it North but it went south to the Indian Ocean making headline news around the world.

What if the unstable North Korean leader attacks the carrier group with its anti-ship ballistic missiles? What if they sink the Vinson? If Trump responds, 35,000 howitzers rain shells on Seoul’s 9,750,000 people.

North Korea cannot be intimidated into doing something because they think they can win any conflict by destroying bases in South Korea and Japan, killing millions of civilians, and don’t care how many North Koreans we kill. Threatening North Korea with military action holds the United States up to ridicule as a “Paper Tiger.” Dropping a bomb or using cruise missiles against defenseless targets makes Trump look cowardly and bombastic.