North Korea’s latest ballistic missile test set off alarm bells around the world. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said the missile’s trajectory suggests that the Stalinist regime is now capable of hitting targets “everywhere in the world,” including every major U.S. city.

Sadly, President Trump’s options are limited. Past efforts by other presidents aimed at appeasing North Korea have failed spectacularly.

So we are left with military action to take out Kim’s missile facilities or living in a world where this tyrant extorts and blackmails us and our allies in the region. The latter option inevitably results in those allies — Japan and South Korea — developing their own nuclear weapons.

Here’s something else to keep in mind: This is not the result of any failure by Donald Trump. North Korea’s missile program did not make some great, sudden leap on Inauguration Day 2017.

This cancer dates back to the Clinton administration and is the product of a failed American foreign policy establishment. Unfortunately, its influence extended through several administrations and grew dramatically during the past eight years when Obama and his allies were busy apologizing for America and gutting our missile defense systems.

That is what put us in this position today.

Former Obama officials who regularly go on TV to wag their fingers at Donald Trump should be outed as the default architects of North Korea’s nuclear program. They have zero credibility, and should be laughed out of the TV studios they are sitting in.

A Good Day

On the domestic front, Tuesday was one of Donald Trump’s best days so far in his presidency. First, the president met with Republican senators to promote tax cuts and, by all accounts, the prevailing mood was one of optimism. Many senators commented on how engaged the president is.

Later in the afternoon, the Senate Budget Committee approved the tax reform bill, and that sent the stock market soaring to yet another record high. (By the way, the president got even more good economic news today when third-quarter growth was revised upward from 3% to 3.3%.)

Then a federal judge shocked the Left when he blocked an attempt by an Obama holdover to seize control of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Leandra English, the deputy director, claimed that she — not the president’s nominee — was in charge after Obama’s director, Richard Cordray, stepped down last week.

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), two apparently sensitive souls, announced that they were so troubled by one of the president’s morning tweets that they were refusing to attend a White House meeting about avoiding a year-end government shutdown.

That enabled the president to have one of the most successful photo-ops of his administration. The president was sitting at a table with Speaker Ryan and Senate Majority Leader McConnell and two empty chairs labeled “Schumer” and “Pelosi.”

It’s important to understand what set this off. Here’s what the president tweeted:

“Meeting with ‘Chuck and Nancy’ today about keeping government open and working. Problem is they want illegal immigrants flooding into our Country unchecked, are weak on Crime and want to substantially RAISE Taxes. I don’t see a deal!”

Frankly, the president is right.

Remember this if the government shuts down in a couple of weeks. Share this report with your friends and family members so they can see through the left-wing media’s spin.

It won’t be Donald Trump and the Republicans who shut down the government. It will be the Democrats and their radical “amnesty first” demands.

Travesty of Justice

Ahmed Abu Khattala, the man the Obama administration said was the “mastermind” of the Benghazi attacks, was acquitted on a majority of terrorism charges, including the most serious charges of murder. For the families of those killed in Benghazi, the suffering never stops.

How did the mastermind of the Benghazi attacks end up in a Washington, DC, courtroom, afforded all the protections of the U.S. Constitution? For that outrage, you can thank Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton.

The same administration that routinely attacked our First and Second Amendment rights extended to an accused Islamic terrorist all the protections of our Constitution. And in Washington, DC, a jury was confused enough not to convict him.

When we capture a thug like Abu Khattala, there should be only two options we should consider: He should be treated as an enemy combatant who belongs in Gitmo or he should be executed. Reading his Miranda rights, giving him a lawyer and hoping a jury can sort it all out is disgusting.

Media Elites Reeling

Media elites are reeling as three more “journalists” were fired in the wake of sexual assault allegations. First came the breaking news that NBC veteran Matt Lauer was fired from the “Today” show. Then word broke that a second executive at National Public Radio had been fired.

But the most ironic of all has to be Garrison Keillor, who has spewed progressive politics from his perch at Minnesota Public Radio for decades.

Just this week Keillor published an opinion piece in The Washington Post entitled, “Al Franken Should Resign? That’s Absurd.”

Around lunchtime yesterday I read this Associated Press headline: “Garrison Keillor Fired By Minnesota Public Radio Over Allegations Of Inappropriate Behavior.”

What a difference a day makes!

Speaking of progressive politics, ESPN announced that is laying off 150 employees. Last year, the network laid off 100 employees and 300 were let go the year before that.

Apparently the whole liberal/lefty thing isn’t such a good sports business model after all. Commissioner Goodell, call your office!