"North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the 'Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times,'" Trump wrote on Twitter. "Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!"
Many of the reactions online voiced displeasure with the fact that a national leader is threatening another nation with nuclear weapons.
For example, Sen. Ed Markey said in a Twitter post that Trump’s statement "borders on presidential malpractice."
Many other users have made more or less similar remarks, expressing fear and worry about a hypothetical nuclear conflict.
There have also been suggestions that such statements by the POTUS indicate he cannot call Kim’s bluff.
However, some Trump supporters stood in defense of the President’s rhetoric towards Kim, saying such an approach is exactly what the US needs to deal with North Korea.
In their turn, some suggested that Trump’s tweet may be a violation of Twitter’s rules, which prohibit threats of violence.
A lot of users simply trolled the president.
Finally, there would not be a complete picture without unambiguous Freudian remarks.
Trump was commenting on an earlier remark by Kim, who in his New Year address called on his country to accelerate the development of its nuclear arsenal and issued a warning to Washington, saying, "The nuclear button is always on my desk. This is not blackmail but reality."