“A statesman is a politician who’s been dead ten or fifteen years.” - Harry S. Truman

This "warmongering" was the rationale for advancing the clock dramatically under Reagan, but Reagan's policies led to the collapse of the soviet union, so two years after Reagan's term, the clock was moved to its safest ever levels (17 minutes to midnight).

https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/the-doomsday-c...

Publicly. I highly doubt either of the two leaders you are thinking about really believe nuclear war is an actual option. Mutual assured destruction is still a thing.

Regarding the saber rattling from current POTUS, stating our nuclear arsenal is the most powerful in the world is a non-statement. It changes nothing other than public perception of his political position. It doesn't reduce or increase the power he wields nor does it reduce or increase the power held by NK.

There's no mutually assured destruction between the US and NK. The US can destroy NK, but NK cannot annihilate the US, even if it can severely damage many of its urban centers.

>I highly doubt either of the two leaders you are thinking about really believe nuclear war is an actual option.

...ummm....

"North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!"

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018

Maybe that was the conventional wisdom at the time. Later we found out that wasn’t as true as we would hope. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CtUfBc4qQMg The movie this clip is from and the companion book are much more detailed about the realities of the time and the though processes of those world leaders.

CIA says Kim Jong Un is still a rational actor.

He may well be, but consider three things. One, what is the chance that North Korea might undergo a political crisis, precipitated by either internal or external events during his lifetime? Secondly, is there anything he would not do or threaten to do in order to avert that? Finally, to our knowledge there have been several technical errors or accidents that came close to detonating or launching nuclear weapons, both in the US and in Russia. What are the chances that North Korea's technical and procedural controls are better than both, and does his behaviour increase or decrease the associated risks?