Every election cycle, the various partisan tribes describe how their opponent is dangerous to freedom and peace and claim we will be lucky to survive 4 years with this would-be tyrant in charge.
This election cycle has made me realize how dangerous that type of vitriolic political environment is because, assuming it was hyperbole, what happens when an actual threat to the world runs for office?
Question answered in the form of Donald Trump.
It’s often said that the president has his “finger on the button” regarding nuclear weapons, and often, people will step in with the condescending wisdom that it’s so much more complicated than that. It’s not as simple as pushing a button.
That’s true. It’s not.
But, according to John Noonan, it’s exactly as dangerous as you can imagine. And he would know, since he previously served in the United States Air Force’s Global Strike Command as a Minuteman III launch officer.
In this series of tweets he lays it out in frightening detail.
1. I cant get this in one tweet. So bear with me as I air some laundry here on Scarborough's claim Trump's interested in nuclear First Use
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
2. Pulled 300 nuclear alerts, 100 ft under the Wyoming turf. Job is serious and full of serious people.
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
3. When we went into ICBM training, we went through a battery of tests and interviews. Are you sane? Are you willing to turn your key?
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
4. I see how those might sound at odds.
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
5. But the whole idea behind nuclear deterrence is that you don't use the damn things. So I thought the mission credible and worthy.
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
6. There are a hell of a lot of bad actors out there who have nukes. They are restrained only by our ability to instantly lay waste to them.
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
7. The nuke triad, which Trump doesn't have a clue about, has been the single greatest contributor to global peace for decades. You heard me
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
8. I dont know if Scarborough is telling whole truth here. Anonymous sources suck. BUT… if he is… buckle the hell up.
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
9. Because Trump would be undoing 6 decades of proven deterrence theory. The purpose of nukes is that they are never used. Trump disagrees?
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
10. This would be the single greatest strategic shift in US national security in decades. In a Trump Presidency, our foreign policy
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
11. ….would be this. "Leave our alliances, fall back on a nuclear first use policy." Does he understand just how F'ing dangerous that is?
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
12. But what really concerns me, as a former nuke guy, is the idea of a narcissist walking around with nuclear authenticators.
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
13. I could sit 100ft underground, on alert, knowing that the POTUS would not make me do my duty — not unless it was absolute last resort
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
14. But imagine having to turn launch keys not knowing if we were under attack or if it was b/c foreign leader said a mean thing on twitter
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
15. The power is there to kill millions. Permanently alter the geopolitical landscape. It is a sacred, sobering responsibility.
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
16. Idea that nukes would be used, say over Raqqa or Mosul, simply because we have no more allies and it's a simple, easy fix is nauseating
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
17. Simply signaling that you're open to using strategic weapons as a tactical solution rewrites the rule book. Russia, China, others will
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
18. respond. Nuclear deterrence is about balance. Trump is an elephant jumping up and down on one side of the scale. So damn dangerous.
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
19. But geopolitics aside, I can't get my mind off the young officers on nuke alert right now. Wondering if they'll soon answer to a madman.
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
20. And be asked to do a duty that should morally be asked of no human being, ever. //end
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
It’s almost worse than a button. It’s people. Americans. Soldiers. The people who actually turn the keys do it based on the idea that the person who is telling them to do it has a good reason. Whatever you think politically of Bush or Obama or Hillary or whoever, if it were you with this job, you would turn that key without hesitation because you’d have a belief that the president wouldn’t be telling you to turn them unless it was really, really, really necessary. If Trump gets elected, doubt has to start creeping in, which could create its own set of problems. The kinds of problems that start wars and end lives.
The idea that the Republican party, much less conservative ideas, would survive Trump is the definition of cognitive dissonance at this point. But perhaps the death of such things would be small potatoes compared to the terrifying reality of a sociopath with his finger on the button.
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