WASHINGTON _ Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Wednesday that he's worried President Donald Trump will "ignore the Constitution" and start a pre-emptive war with North Korea, which the Democrat worries will quickly escalate into a nuclear conflict.
"I'm very concerned we have such a chaotic, unbalanced, unstable person with the thermo-nuclear trigger," he said. "And we have issues on the Korean Peninsula that I am very concerned about that."
Inslee, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, gave an interview to McClatchy on Wednesday to discuss Democrats' victory in the Alabama special election. When asked what he worried could prevent Democrats from victories next year, his mind turned to war.
"I don't say this without a lot of thought," he said. "I can tell you that there are many in the armed services that share these concerns. It's time for people like myself to warn Americans of this concern."
He added that Trump's ability to start a nuclear war represented a "clear and present danger to American democracy."
Tensions between the United States and North Korea have risen sharply since Trump's inauguration and as Pyongyang has raced to demonstrate its ability to build a nuclear weapon and delivery vehicle capable of reaching parts of mainland America.
Inslee is a two-term governor from Washington and, in the view of some, a potential 2020 presidential candidate.
