As the saber-rattling and war of words between Donald Trump and North Korea intensifies, the US president called up the governor of Guam to reassure him of America’s support.
The Pacific island nation - an unincorporated territory of the US - was this week threatened by Pyongyang with missile strikes, which has been widely condemned by the international community.
Trump, and Chief of Staff General John Kelly, phoned Guam’s governor Eddie Baza Calvo to assure him that the people of the country are safe and that the president is behind the them “1000 percent.”
Calvo posted a video of the conversation to Facebook.
“Mr. President, as the governor of Guam…and as an American citizen, I have never felt more safe or confident with you at the helm,” Calvo told Trump.
“Don’t worry about a thing,” responded Trump. “They should have had me eight years ago…I have to say, Eddie, you’re going to become extremely famous. All over the world they’re talking about Guam and they’re talking about you.”
Strangely, Trump stressed that the crisis could actually be good for the economy of Guam, while perhaps indicating where he’ll take his next family vacation.
“And your tourism, I can say this, your tourism is going to go up like tenfold with the expenditure of no money, so I congratulate you,” Trump said in prescient tone.
“It looks beautiful, you know I’m watching…it’s such a big story in the news. It just looks like a beautiful place,” he said.
Despite the president's assurances, Guam isn’t taking the potential nuclear strike lightly. The tiny island in the middle of the pacific has been briefing its citizens about what to do in case of a nuclear attack.
The Guam Homeland Security and Office of Civil Defense released a fact sheet on Facebook and its website.
The guidelines, however, are depressingly paltry and amount to little more than the ‘duck and cover’ procedure doled out to Americans at the height of the Cold War.
Like this piece of wholly unhelpful advice illustrates in the event of a nuclear strike.
"Lie flat on the ground and cover your head. If the explosion is some distance away, it could take 30 seconds or more for the blast wave to hit."