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Journalists, Obama Admin Officials React on Social Media to Trump's U.N. Speech

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September 19, 2017

Journalists were quick to react on social media to President Donald Trump's first speech to the the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, with many expressing angst about the president's remarks.

During his address, Trump said the U.S. will "totally destroy North Korea" if forced to defend itself and referred to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as "Rocket Man."

"No nation on earth has an interest in seeing this band of criminals arm itself with nuclear weapons and missiles," Trump said at U.N. headquarters in New York City. "The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime."

Trump also castigated the Iran nuclear deal and said the Iranian regime's longest suffering victims are its own people.

"The longest suffering victims of Iran's leaders are, in fact, its own people," Trump said. "Rather than use its resources to improve Iranian lives, its oil profits go to fund Hezbollah and other terrorists that kill innocent Muslims and attack their peaceful Arab and Israeli neighbors."

Trump additionally took aim at Venezuela and the collapse of its socialist government.

"The problem in Venezuela is not that socialism has been poorly implemented, but that socialism has been faithfully implemented," he said.

Many reporters reacted with shock at Trump's tough talk.

Other journalists criticized the president's remarks.

https://twitter.com/JoyAnnReid/status/910157536661327872

Former Obama administration officials were also unhappy with Trump's speech. White House national security adviser and failed novelist Ben Rhodes, Justice Department spokesman Brian Fallon, and Justice Department official Eric Columbus, all of whom held their positions in the Obama administration, shared their criticism of Trump's speech.