Ignoring Them, Trump Says: 'We will totally destroy you, Rocket Man'

Good PR Takes a Back Seat

Andrew BlumWhere does one begin in looking at the latest PR and communications flap involving President Trump over North Korea?His new threat to North Korea has raised a number of troubling questions – including the message it sends to our allies and our enemies, what it means for the White House communications team, and how do they manage it, particularly in a potential nuclear crisis?President Trump and Kim Jong-Un have been waging an escalating war of words for months, like two bullies playing in the sand box. Just when you thought the Trump administration PR approach couldn't get any stranger or worse here, along came the president's salvo at North Korea during the U.N. General Assembly.Despite being counseled by senior members of his staff that calling Kim "Rocket Man" wasn't the right approach, President Trump did so anyway in his speech to the UN. He vowed that the U.S. would totally destroy North Korea.Kim responded: "I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire" and then threatened to test a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific. (Dotard means an old senile person but in this case it just as easily could mean hyperbole-man for Trump's over-the-top comments.)Here's the thing about President Trump – his going off on Kim and North Korea doesn't come in a vacuum – he has taken to Twitter to attack NBA star Stephen Curry over a White House visit controversy and NFL players over the National Anthem flap, he has ranted against Hillary Clinton, made controversial comments after the Charlottesville protest rally, has been fighting with his own party, has lambasted the Russia probe, and on and on. His throwing down the PR gauntlet at Kim and North Korea should surprise no one.Trump is running a three-ring PR circus trying to be the President, a lion tamer and carnival barker at the same time, and sticking his head into the mouth of the lion (Kim) and daring North Korea to match him threat for threatThat's not way to handle PR in an incendiary international atmosphere with nuclear war as one possible outcomeAll of this has rekindled concerns on the 2016 campaign trail about whether Donald Trump was stable enough to have his finger on the nuclear button if he was elected.So how do you manage this? I wouldn't want to be Sarah Huckabee Sanders and the White House Press Office answering questions about Trump's North Korea comments and the threat of nuclear war. Any PR response is essentially dead in the water after a Trump North Korea threat – it hangs out there and you can't fix it. It's sort of like asking other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?Then there is the rest of the world. Our allies don't know what to fully make of President Trump bellowing about North Korea but they want it to stop. Our enemies, while probably enjoying seeing the U.S. in turmoil, don't want to see nuclear war either.Someone needs to take control of this PR and political mess. More executive orders, more threats and more Twitter rants aren't the answer. It is too serious to leave it the way it is. [author]About the Author: Andrew Blum is a PR consultant and media trainer and principal of AJB Communications. He has directed PR for professional services and financial services firms, NGOs, agencies and other clients. As a PR executive, and formerly as a journalist, he has been involved on both sides of the media aisle in some of the most media intensive crises of the past 25 years. Contact him at ajbcomms@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter: @ajbcomms [/author]