Otto Warmbier dead! Trump has harsh words

President Trump condemned North Korea's horribly "brutal regime" Monday after learning of the death of college student Otto Warmbier. He spent 17 months in a North Korean prison for allegedly taking a communist propaganda poster as he was preparing to return to the US.

Warmbier was released by the hermit nation last week and appeared to be incoherent.

"Lots of bad things happened," Trump said at a meeting with technology CEOs, "but at least we got him home to be with his parents."

He died at University of Cincinnati Medical Center, near where he was raised in suburban Wyoming.

In a typical written statement, sounding as if it were written by someone else, Trump said that "Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency."

Warmbier's family said in a statement that "the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans" meant that "no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today."

Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) said North Korea should be "universally condemned for its abhorrent behavior." He said the family "had to endure more than any family should have to bear."

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) said the North Korean's "despicable actions . . . must be condemned."

I would add: "in the strongest possible terms . . . and let's kill Kim and his generals while we're at it."

Enough with the words of condemnation--let's do something real.


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