Trump’s “fire and fury” declaration could undermine the rest of his Cabinet’s work

President Donald Trump’s bold threat to North Korea that it could confront the United States’ “fire and fury” could blow to pieces whatever is left of his Cabinet work to defuse growing pressures in Asia.

For a considerable length of time, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been building what he calls a “peaceful pressure” battle, getting internatinal partners into an expansive push to drive the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to quit wielding its rockets and weapons and go to the negociations table.

The US representative has combined that attempt with a similarly critical yet more unobtrusive venture: sending messages of consolation to China and other Asian countries that the US’ point isn’t to annihilate North Korea and overturn the district, yet essentially to connect with Pyongyang in talks.

Tillerson conveyed that message most expressly August 1 preceding setting out on an outing to Asia that has taken him to Manila, Malaysia and Thailand this week. “We don’t look for an regime change,” Tillerson told columnists before his takeoff. “We don’t look to cripple the administration, we don’t look for a quickened reunification of the promontory, we don’t look for a reason to send our military north of the 38th parallel.”