ARLINGTON, Va. – Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who has not ruled out a 2020 presidential run, slammed President Trump for making his “fire and fury” threat to North Korea’s regime.

"North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen," Trump said Tuesday after reports that Pyongyang had successfully miniaturized a nuclear warhead to fit on an intercontinental ballistic missile. "He has been very threatening beyond a normal statement. And as I said, they will be met with fire, fury, and, frankly, power, the likes of which this world has never seen before."

McAuliffe called the North Korea situation “very delicate” and agreed with lawmakers who have said Trump should “town done” his rhetoric.

“We have a lot of the world community – the vote we just had in the UN – everybody is coming together but we’ve got to do this smartly and diplomatically, and the president has got to tone down this rhetoric,” the governor said, referring to a unanimous UN Security Council vote expanding sanctions on Kim Jong-un’s regime. “I mean, ‘fire and fury like the world has never seen,’ you know, that’s not a comforting message, that’s not a diplomatic message.”

“I was too young, but I have seen the images of what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki – that was fire and fury, and he is now saying it will be worse than that,” McAuliffe said after announcing an I-395 express lanes expansion project in Pentagon City today. “Knock it off. You’re the president of the United States; start acting like one.”

“I just think he needs to be a lot more careful in what he says. Diplomacy is an art and you want to get everybody to the table in a peaceful manner, and he is not helping. He is literally putting gas on the fire and it’s not helpful to where we need to be. It’s a very serious situation,” he added.

McAuliffe, chairman of the National Governors Association, was asked what he thinks the Democrats must do to win a congressional majority in the midterm election.

“We’ve got a great slew of candidates who are running. The recruitment has been great. The one thing about Trump being in the low 30s [approval rating] is it’s hurt their recruitment. We need 24 seats to take the House back – continuing to lean on the family issues, education and job creation, keep talking about that and healthcare. I mean, they have so botched up healthcare, the Republicans, people are scared to death,” he said. “I feel very good. The president is in the low 30s in Virginia. I think we’re going to have a banner year. We’ve focused on what the people want us to.”