The United States should continue beefing up its military defenses against North Korea's nuclear threat and be prepared to blast leader Kim Jong Un's missiles out of the sky should he fire them at the West, renowned economist Larry Kudlow told Newsmax TV.
"We're not going to go in and bomb North Korea," Kudlow, a CNBC senior correspondent, told host Steve Malzberg on Thursday. "I think that's really highly, highly, highly unlikely. However, let me suggest the following: the U.S. has got to do all it can with government funding of our investment in missile defense."
"President Ronald Reagan started this so-called SDI, strategic defense initiative. He was mocked for it. Star Wars was a derogatory term. The fact of the matter is Reagan was exactly right. Peace through strength. We've got to be able to defend ourselves.
"Our triad, which is land, air, and sea missile defenses, has to be beefed up . . . We're going to have to defend ourselves. We're not a paper tiger. I think Trump's going to make this clear over time."
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Kudlow told Malzberg he believes Trump is ready to intercept any missile threats from North Korea — and maybe even more.
"We may want to even go and be even tougher and go right to their bomb sites, to their launch sites, if we see from our radar intelligence that something is going to happen," he said. "In other words, we will at some point take action. I just believe that.
"I don't think we're going to invade. I don't think we're going to bomb them. But I think we may intercept their missiles, or we may get them before they lift off the ground."
Kudlow, host of "The Larry Kudlow Show," is author of "JFK and the Reagan Revolution: A Secret History of American Prosperity," published by Portfolio.
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