Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel defended President Donald Trump's strong rhetoric to North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, telling CNN's "New Day" on Wednesday that is what is necessary to let him know the United States is serious about protecting itself and its allies.
"This is a perilous situation and I think President Trump contrasts strongly against the stick-your-head-in-the-sand policy of President [Barack] Obama, who ignored this threat and now we are in a global situation where we have a potential nuclear threat in North Korea," McDaniel said.
She stressed, however, that the U.S. has kept diplomatic channels open, with unanimous support for sanctions at the United Nations, including from Russia and China.
At the same time, McDaniel said that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is "working through back channels to try and de-escalate the situation, but the president of the United States needs to be firm that we will act if Kim Jong Un uses nuclear weapons against the United States of America or our allies."
When asked if she is concerned about a new CNN poll that shows 73 percent of Americans say they can't trust the information they hear from the White House and what this means during a crisis, McDaniel was completely dismissive of the survey, saying that "if polls were correct, Donald Trump wouldn't be president right now."
She added that "I'm traveling the country and I'm seeing what people are saying and they support President Trump … They aren't just supporting the president, they're rallying behind him. I think he has tremendous support among his base."