When President Donald Trump took the oath of office in January, he became, effectively, the most powerful person in the world. Trump alone controls the U.S. nuclear arsenal, which means he has the power to launch, within minutes, hundreds of destructive nuclear weapons, without approval from Congress, the Supreme Court, or anyone in his administration.
Since the election, Trump has said that he “hates proliferation” and believes there should be less nuclear weapons in the world—except, of course, in countries that he believes need to defend themselves, like Saudi Arabia and Japan.
In October, one month before election day, 10 former nuclear launch officers wrote a letter warning the country against trusting Trump with the nuclear codes.
“The pressures the system places on that one person are staggering and require enormous composure, judgment, restraint and diplomatic skill. Donald Trump does not have these leadership qualities,” the statement read. “On the contrary, he has shown himself time and again to be easily baited and quick to lash out, dismissive of expert consultation and ill-informed of even basic military and international affairs—including, most especially, nuclear weapons."
Trump’s election has introduced a new variable—how can we give this much power to anyone, especially a man so impulsive, he was forbidden by staff to use his own Twitter account?
U.S. Sen. Ed Markey thinks Trump’s Twitter antics are enough of a reason to remove the nuclear button from the president’s fingertips. “Given the fact that we have Donald Trump at 5:30 in the morning at Mar-A-Lago sitting up and starting to tweet, we don’t want him to be awoken at Mar-A-Lago on a Saturday morning, just being told that some event has occurred around the world and that someone might be giving him a recommendation to use nuclear weapons first,” Markey said in an interview with 'Boston Public Radio' Thursday. “I just think it’s too dangerous for our own country, and for the world.”
Joined by eight senate colleagues, Markey’s bill would alter military strategy to limit the U.S. of nuclear weapons, except in response to a nuclear attack against the United States or its allies, which would require a congressional vote. “The bill does not restrict the president’s authority to respond to nuclear attacks, my bill just simply says that we should not use nuclear weapons first,” Markey said. “The United States of America should not be the first to use nuclear weapons ... from my perspective, no president should be allowed to launch an unprovoked nuclear war against another country that has not used nuclear weapons against us. The constitution gave the power to declare war to Congress, and unless we are attacked with nuclear weapons first, I don’t think nuclear war should ever be on the table.”
To hear Sen. Ed Markey’s full interview with Boston Public Radio, click on the audio player above.
