[ExI] Trump asks "​Why Can’t We Use Nuclear Weapons?​"​

Anders anders at aleph.se
Wed Aug 3 21:16:48 UTC 2016


If nothing else that clip is great TV. That horrified silence is a keeper!

Now, to be fair, if I was a foreign policy n00b and got a high level 
briefing it might actually make sense to ask about nuclear doctrine - it 
is somewhat recondite, and I would be really curious. But three times? 
OK, his staff has categorically denied that a briefing took place... 
which opens the even more disturbing issue that he has not had anybody 
advice him on relevant matters.

In many ways the US system is about selecting a group of people rather 
than a person. Even a less bright chap might have a good team, and focus 
on the social part of the job. The thing that looks increasingly 
problematic here is that it actually seems to be just one person on the 
Trump side. That is not going to work.



On 2016-08-03 16:51, John Clark wrote:
> I know that many on this list are tired of posts about Donald Trump 
> but I'm going to write one anyway because something came up today that 
> confirms my belief that this erratic unstable individual is the 
> greatest immediate existential threat to the world today. Joe
> ​ ​
> Scarborough
> ​ ​
> interviewed former 4 star general and head of both the NSA and the CIA
> ​ ​
> Michael Hayden, in the course of it
> ​ ​
> Scarborough
> ​ ​
> said:
>
> "
> ​ ​
> /Several months ago, a foreign policy expert on the international 
> level went to advise Donald Trump. And three times [Trump] asked about 
> the use of nuclear weapons. Three times he asked at one point if we 
> had them why can't we use them
> ​. ​
> Three times in an hour briefing, ‘Why can’t we use nuclear
> ​ ​
> weapons/
> /​/' "​
> ?
>
> Hayden
> ​ ​
> was then asked how long it would be between a presidential decision to 
> attack and the nuclear missiles actually getting into the air. Hayden 
> said it depended on circumstances and he wouldn't get into classified 
> stuff, but he did say:
>
> "The system is designed for speed and decisiveness, it is not designed 
> to debate the decision".
>
>
> http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/08/trump-asked-advisor-why-cant-we-use-nuclear-weapons.html
>
>  John K Clark  ​
>
>
>>
>
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-- 
Dr Anders Sandberg
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Oxford University

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