Trump: 'It's a disgrace what happened to Otto'

[DonViejo]

Source: Politico



By NOLAN D. MCCASKILL 06/20/2017 11:56 AM EDT

Otto Warmbier may be alive today if he were brought home sooner, President Donald Trump said Tuesday.

“It’s a disgrace what happened to Otto. It’s a total disgrace what happened to Otto,” Trump told reporters Tuesday.

Warmbier’s family announced Monday that Otto had died in the hospital. North Korea released the 22-year-old University of Virginia student last week after more than a year in captivity. He returned to the U.S., however, in a coma, which the North Korean regime said he had been in since March 2016.

“It should never, ever be allowed to happen, and, frankly, if he were brought home sooner, I think the result would have been a lot different,” Trump said. “He should have been brought home that same day. The result would have been a lot of different.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/20/trump-otto-warmbier-reaction-239753

[DetlefK]

1. So... He will get the other 3 US-citizens incarcerated in North Korea released?

With his superhuman negotiation-skills?

[ProudMNDemocrat]

2. Yo Donnie........You are a Disgrace!

Last edited Tue Jun 20, 2017, 10:10 PM - Edit history (1)

It is a disgrace what happened to the 7 US Navy sailors who died and you had not a care to publicly share a word of condolence with the famiies and the Nation.

It is also a disgrace you have said NOTHING about the Muslim teenager in Virgina who was brutally murdered for being Muslim in this country.

You are a DISGRACE, Donald Trump!

[luvMIdog]

51. yep

[yallerdawg]

3. Reagan got our hostages out of Iran the day he was sworn in!

There are three more Americans held in N Korea, and we are now 5 months into this administration?

LOSER!

[WinstonSmith4740]

24. Reagan had nothing to do with their release.

Except to stall it for as long as possible. During the campaign, they made a deal with the Ayatollah to hold onto them until after the election. In return, we'd sell them weapons. It was the beginning of Iran-Contra. But agreed, Trump is a liar and a loser, who I'm sure had nothing to do with this poor young man's release. My guess is he had no idea the kid was even being held...and wouldn't have cared less if he had known.

http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/jphuck/BOOK3Ch7.html

[Scarsdale]

4. Blame

Maybe someone should mention that Otto would be alive today, had he not stolen that poster? Who does not know how to behave in a foreign country, especially one with strict rules like N. Korea? My heart goes out to the parents. I know how it feels to lose a child. At some point we have to face responsibility for our own actions.

[In_The_Wind]

7. ...

I am sorry for your loss.

[BeyondGeography]

12. It looks like they denied oxygen to his brain for stealing a poster

That's not reasonable. Responsibility for one's own actions? Step down from that horse.

[Scarsdale]

18. Do you disagree?

Anyone travelling in a foreign country should be aware of rules and regulations. Surely the tour group was cautioned about do's and don't's? Why do SOME people take chances which then put the entire government in an uncomfortable place, trying to defend a citizen for behaving badly overseas? Sorry, but he HAS to take some blame for what happened. Sad? Very, but nevertherless avoidable. All he had to do was BEHAVE. We all know N. Korea is under the rule of a crazy man. Did he think stealing was acceptable?

[BeyondGeography]

32. You'd have a more of a point if he did actual harm to someone

or even defaced a poster. He's a kid walking down the hall at night and says, that poster is cool, nobody will care if I take it. Was it a bad move? Undoubtedly. But it was the kind of goofy, impulsive thing that young guys do. Do you think he was told there would be a death penalty or even a long prison term for that?

[Scarsdale]

36. Of course not

BUT this was N. Korea he was in. They demand RESPECT from their visitors. The sentence was way out of line for the offense, BUT take into account that he was likely warned not to go outside the boundaries. So, do you think it is alright to steal things off walls in THIS country? The young man lost his life, for a minor offense and that is very sad. It was a selfish act on his part, I believe.

[Nitram]

40. Scarsdale, I agree 100%. Anyone traveelling to N. Korea must know the risks.

I do think the tour company should have more closely monitored the group. College kids, especially young men, often don't stop to think things through. "Gee, look! What a cool poster! That'll look good on my dorm wall."

[BeyondGeography]

43. It's what we would call criminal mischief

When people die of gross injustice here, we don't blame the victim. At least Democrats don't. Not impugning you, just saying you're being a little harsh.

[crim son]

46. Are you serious?

You sincerely believe that when Americans travel abroad, they should not be subject to the laws of the country they have chosen to visit? Yeah it's harsh and it's horrible, but it's also reality. It's one reason I wouldn't visit North Korea... because I'm not interested in being tortured or killed if I inadvertently commit what would be committed a minor offense in the U.S. BECAUSE I WOULDN'T BE IN THE U.S.

Duh.

[BeyondGeography]

48. Reading comprehension

Not something you excelled in apparently.

[kwassa]

54. I don't think it was a selfish act.

An impulsive one, yes, but selfish, no. He probably wanted a souvenir. He didn't need to die for it.

[Dave Starsky]

50. As a caring parent, you would insist that your child not go there.

You would explain, in plain terms, ALL of the dangers you know about this trip and why your child should absolutely not do it, under any circumstances.

And then you can be relieved all of the responsibility when they fucking go and do it anyway.

[atreides1]

33. No one knows what they did!

Hopefully an autopsy can provide some answers, as to what did happen to him!


Do you really expect reasonable from a man who executes his enemies with an anti-aircraft gun?

That word 'reasonable', is subject to many definitions...the latest one being the acquittal of the police officer who shot and killed Philando Castile!

[BeyondGeography]

38. They do know something happened to his brain a long time ago

Based on magnetic resonance images of Warmbier’s brain, his status is not likely to substantively improve. The scans showed “extensive loss of brain tissue in all regions of his brain.” That means his brain was deprived of oxygen and/or blood for a long time, and tissue died everywhere—much the same process that happens to brain cells in a particular area of the brain when a person has a stroke, everywhere.

This MRI also makes it possible to say whether a stroke is recent or not. People in early stages of hypoxic-ischemic brain injury sometimes improve; people in remote stages do not. Warmbier’s brain injury is in a remote stage. His doctors reported that it happened more than a year ago.

What caused this type of diffuse cellular death throughout the entire brain?

This can be the result of asphyxiation, including by exposure to poisonous gas, and by cardiac arrest of innumerable possible causes. The doctors reported yesterday that the most likely caused was “cardiopulmonary arrest.” That isn’t much of a hypothesis—almost begging the question, in that it means his heart and/or lungs ceased to supply his brain with oxygen...

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/06/could-botulism-cause-severe-brain-injury/530586/

[MGKrebs]

55. I don't know that we know he stole a poster.

Has that been confirmed? The video was inconclusive, the confession was almost certainly coerced. Not sure we can trust their justice system like we do ours.

[patricia92243]

15. "Maybe someone should mention that Otto would be alive today, had he not stolen that poster?"7

I'm speechless!

[WinstonSmith4740]

26. Agreed!

I don't know if he did or not, but I do know that N. Korea is not above torturing a "confession" out of people.

[Scarsdale]

37. The video shows

Otto taking the poster off the wall.

[EllieBC]

52. This is hilarious as I've read comments here before about "just a kid"

and late teens early 20 somethings not necessarily knowing any better and making dumb mistakes.

Why does Otto suddenly bring out the Personal Responsibility comments?

[tammywammy]

42. There's no real proof that he even did it.

There's a grainy video that doesn't show that he did it. None of his actions prior to it indicated he was likely to do it. After being in North Korean "custody" which entailed god knows what type of treatment he "admitted" to it.

He was an American and a useful tool to the North Koreans as a bargaining chip.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

45. Punishment should fit the crime. Disgusting to claim brain death is suitable for poster theft.

Your high-horse moralizing FAILS.

You want to talk responsibility? The North Koreans need to take responsibility. When you get them extradited to the US to face trial, you might be able to discuss punishing a poster thief with maybe 20 hours community service for a first offense.

[LanternWaste]

47. And black males should know better than to smoke a joint to avoid 13 years of jail, yes?

And someone should mention to all black males they should know better than to smoke a joint to avoid 13 years of jail (Alfred Nobles), or a life sentence for selling $20 of pot (Vincent Winslow) yes?

Or maybe.... just maybe, we blame the denial of a proportional reponse, rather than pretending the consequences of our actions are always just and righteous.

And that's presuming we believe the North Korean reporting of the situation as accurate, as well as their investigation, assessment, trial and sentencing (though I realize Trendy Skepticism is a most relative and fungible thing).

[Spider Jerusalem]

53. It wasn't a "poster", it was a banner

about four or five feet long, and in a frame (there's a picture easily available); it was in a restricted staff-only area of the hotel (where he'd have no reason to be, and wouldn't have known it was there); and the CCTV footage released shows a blurry and unidentifiable figure whose face can't be seen removing the banner from the wall (in its frame) and propping it against the wall. There's a lot more indication that he was detained on a trumped-up charge because he was an American than there is that he actually did what he was accused of.

[Botany]

5. The man is an asshole

He made this about himself, took a swipe @ President Obama, and
I doubt he gave an condolences to the Otto's family.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. THIS

[Freethinker65]

6. So now Trump is playing Doctor as well as President?

I would wait for an autopsy from professionals before making any false claims as to how and when the coma and brain damage occurred. Truth is, we many never know. This reminds me of those with little to no medical nor scientific knowledge claiming they knew best during the Terry Shiavo fiasco.

Calling Otto's prison sentence for allegedly stealing a poster barbaric and a disgrace is appropriate.

[Maxheader]

8. Wonder

how much slack dementia boy has from
the pentagon? Shooting down the drone?
My worry is the ones that need to be
close by, to keep his hands off the buttons
and switches, will either be in the john or
sleeping.

[LittleGirl]

28. Welcome to DU

Thanks for your post and participation. Cheers.

[haele]

9. Well, it's also a disgrace what happens in U.S. jails.

Especially the one run by "Sheriff" David Clark's.

But I guess it's just different - important even - if something fatal happens to a young, white, Christian boy from a "good" U.S. family when he's just fooling around in one of the Axis of Evil countries than if it happens here at home to a poor or minority citizen who's just trying to get through the day and scared or "disrespected" a cop enough to be thrown in jail to be "taught a lesson".

See, we're supposed to be concerned as a nation when a kid who was fooling around in the wrong place at the wrong time in a hostile country is so harshly punished so as to lead to his or her untimely death.

However, it's no big deal when it's a kid in the U.S. who was in the wrong place at the wrong time arrested by someone from whom s/he is "supposed" to be able to expect both the protection and the respect of law that is harshly punished so as to lead to his or her untimely death.

Haele

[sinkingfeeling]

19. +100

[Scarsdale]

21. Agreed.

How many young people in this country have lost their lives for "driving while black"? By the way, has the Orange Mistake said a word about the 7 sailors killed in that collision? How about the 4 UPS workers killed while starting their shift at work? Oh, wait, Scalise is a republican, so of course he gets top priority. Otto can be used as a club against President Obama, who DARES to be more popular than tRump.

[RKP5637]

10. OMG, there he goes! Only he can do it.

?quality=90&strip=all&w=349

[Scarsdale]

22. Yeah, right.

More like "Make America Puke Again"

[flibbitygiblets]

11. I feel bad for Otto's family that they had to endure an asshat like Trump

seems so unfair considering the unimaginable pain they're already suffering.

Trump: "It's a brutal regime...and...we'll be able to handle it."

How comforting.

[Turbineguy]

13. Prelude to:

It's Obama's fault.

[BeyondGeography]

14. What he really meant to say was...OBAMA

[sinkingfeeling]

17. So, you're the president of the US, what are you going to do about it?

"It should never, ever be allowed to happen..." Does he mean death? Being detained by North Korea? Or American students being able to travel?

[The Wielding Truth]

20. First. Weren't there any bans on Americans visiting N.Korea? Aren't there certain countries that we

are staunchly warned not to visit. His father said that his son read or heard about this vacation plan for students and he asked their permission. How could his school or American customs not have tried to stop him?

Shouldn't he have been made to review foreign protocol? If this was school sponsored, shouldn't there have been protection and separate quarters, supervised outings?

His treatment must have been horrible and despicable, but how could he have been allowed to go into the lions den?

[karynnj]

29. You go through customs entering a country and he did not

Directly from the US to NK. Neither the US or his college knew anything about this.

[cab67]

31. Wouldn't he have needed a visa?

If so, the State Department would certainly have known he was going to NK.

(Honest question here.)

[karynnj]

34. Visas come from the country you want to enter

And are needed if they require them. Accounts say that he signed up for the trip in China.

Consider US embassies issue VISAS for nationals of countries we require them from.

[cab67]

35. righto - thanks

[The Wielding Truth]

44. Big risk. Sorry he went. North Korea is not a good place for anyone.

[DinahMoeHum]

25. Trump cannot do squat.

The North Koreans, like everybody else, have him pegged as a weakling.

[karynnj]

27. Note that the one person not returned from Iran was arrested

Supposedly in 2007, slightly under 2 years before the end of Bush's term. Iran in 2015 said he was not arrested and they did not know what happened.

The right blamed Obama when he was not returned and blamed Obama when 4 people were returned due to the Obama's work because they claimed he paid ransom.

Imagine if Obama or Kerry would have blamed Bush saying he should have gotten Levinson and others out?

[NCjack]

30. Donnie, Bring them home! .... nt

[Maine-i-acs]

39. And the young Muslim woman killed on her way from the mosque this week?

CRICKETS from Don the Con

Not disgraceful enough? Cold blooded murderous hate crime on US soil? Not a peep.

[Nitram]

41. This is Trump's way of blaming Obama for Warmbier's death.

Look for a more direct tweet, coming to your twitterfeed soon!

[Vinca]

49. There have been 2 Americans locked up on Trump's watch. Why aren't they home???

And why did he call Kim a "really smart cookie????"