Words backed up by ACTION ....

Our American prisoners who were held in North Korea for years have now been released and they are finally back HOME. Who would have thought such an outcome would ever have been possible in the aftermath of the tragic return of the college student Otto Warmbier last year?

I happened to be awake when the “United States of America” plane carrying the newly freed Americans landed at Andrews Airbase.  It was just after 3:00 a.m. EST when the plane touched down.  I watched as these three brave men stepped off the plane, in real-time, setting foot back onto American soil.  I wondered briefly had these men been in captivity long enough and under such dire circumstances as to have resigned themselves to never being able to return home again? As Americans, you'd like to think we never have reason to completely lose hope, especially hope for a return of those we have lost as prisoners in foreign countries.  That's why I think you have to give President Trump some real credit here.  President Trump has a unique style in his approach to negotiations, but at the end of the day he does something many of our more recent presidents have failed to do: President Trump backs up his powerful words with meaningful and timely ACTION. For in the absence of meaningful action, words have a way of evaporating into mere smoke which all too quickly dissipates in even the faintest of breezes.

I found it rather poignant that in his opening remarks the President took a moment to remember Otto Warmbier and his parents, expressing a genuinely heartfelt regret that Otto's homecoming had been under such tragic circumstances.  In the end, watching the return of these three prisoners who seemed in relatively good health and spirits, despite their years of harsh confinement, truly made me feel proud to be an American.