Donald Trump and the Threat of Nuclear War

[webfact]

Donald Trump and the Threat of Nuclear War

JEFFREY GOLDBERG

 

The single most important question in this campaign: Which candidate is better equipped to manage the North Korean threat without triggering catastrophe?

 

NEW YORK: -- By 2020—the fourth year of the next president’s first term—many American experts believe that North Korea will have stockpiled enough nuclear material to build roughly 100 bombs. By 2020, these experts also believe that North Korea, which has already conducted five successful nuclear tests, may have the capability to build and launch a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach the U.S. mainland.

 

It is true that the Syrian Civil War—and the refugees it has created and the terrorists it has incubated—presents a serious short- to medium-term security challenge for the next president. And the challenge of a rising China represents the greatest long-term test for American foreign and national security policymakers. But there should not be much doubt that, across the next four years, North Korea—recalcitrant, volatile, bellicose North Korea—poses the most unpredictable and potentially devastating threat to the United States, and to its closest Asian allies.

 

Already, it is believed that North Korea will have produced roughly 20 bombs’ worth of fissile material by year’s end. Its leaders appear to be irrational, capricious, malevolently messianic and deeply cruel. They have acted on a desire to sell their nuclear technology to anyone with money (the Assad regime in Syria was one such customer); and they have proven themselves to be almost completely impervious to outside pressure.

 

Full story: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/11/trump-nuclear-north-korea/506750/

 

-- The Atlantic 2016-11-08

[keemapoot]

Trump already announced that, if elected, he will select Dennis Rodman as Secretary of State and special envoy to N. Korea.  Yesterday, in support of this choice, Trump stated "Dennis knows words, he has the best words in Korean for ordering Korean food."
 

[OMGImInPattaya]

Hillary Clinton has voted for war as as a senator, and supported lots of  them as Secretary of State , while Trump has not..it's very clear who's the warmongering candidate.

Edited November 8, 2016 by OMGImInPattaya

[boomerangutang]

        Mr. Schwartz, who ghost-wrote Trump first book, "The Art of the Deal" hung out with Trump for many hours at a time.   Much of that time was in Trump's office, listening in (with permission) on Trump's conversations, in order to get a good idea of what makes the man tick.   Right after Trump announced his candidacy, Schwartz couldn't sleep at night.  The reason:  He was spooked by Trump having 'the Football' ...which is the valise which has the nuclear codes and is never far from the president.  When asked what he would re-title the 'Deal' book if he could, Schwartz said, without hesitation, "The Sociopath."

 

        Schwartz is not an anomaly.  Each of 3 men who have written biographies of Trump, have come out to say what a dangerous screw-up he is (using their own words).  Even Trump's long-time private secretary says he has several gaping character flaws.  Of the people who know him well, only his immediate family and his butler say non-derogatory things about him. 

[OMGImInPattaya]

Liberal New York authors aren't know for supporting or saying nice things about Republicans...so your data points don't have much credibility.

[JHolmesJr]

Fear mongering at its best….no ones that crazy in these times…crooked hillary might like a good war but even she knows that a nuclear one would affect her corrupt business.

[boomerangutang]

17 minutes ago, OMGImInPattaya said:

Liberal New York authors aren't know for supporting or saying nice things about Republicans...so your data points don't have much credibility.

 

There you go again:  attack the messenger (Schwartz), when you don't like the message. 

[OMGImInPattaya]

2 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

 

There you go again:  attack the messenger (Schwartz), when you don't like the message. 

Just stating a fact. As for Schwartz, he's entitled to his opinions...and that's all they are. 

[Enoon]

All too familiar and easy for for him:

 

"They're fired"

 

 

[daveAustin]

The single most important question in this campaign: Which candidate is better equipped to manage the North Korean threat without triggering catastrophe?
 

Trump, because he's more likely to get in there and take out the regime now before it has enough time to be able to shrink a warhead and plonk it on an ICBM, thus having everyone by the balls. There is no negotiating with NK I'm afraid and Clinton will languish and simply deliver more of the same.

[hawker9000]

17 minutes ago, daveAustin said:

The single most important question in this campaign: Which candidate is better equipped to manage the North Korean threat without triggering catastrophe?
 

Trump, because he's more likely to get in there and take out the regime now before it has enough time to be able to shrink a warhead and plonk it on an ICBM, thus having everyone by the balls. There is no negotiating with NK I'm afraid and Clinton will languish and simply deliver more of the same.

N. Korea has a "nuclear clock" all its own, and it's certainly moved forward significantly under the boy statesman.  As SoS Clinton has conclusively proved her total ineptness in the foreign affairs arena as well; there's little doubt that she'll be doing the same old dither-step as it ticks even closer to midnight.  All the hand-wringing about Trump being a warmonger is nothing more than the usual tired wingnut sky-is-falling mantra uttered about every Republican candidate.  There's a certain mindless drone constituency that just eats it up.

[JAG]

2 hours ago, OMGImInPattaya said:

Hillary Clinton has voted for war as as a senator, and supported lots of  them as Secretary of State , while Trump has not..it's very clear who's the warmongering candidate.

 

Given that Mr Trump has never held any political office, then he has never been in a position to vote for any war.

 

I have to say that my observation of his recent statements, whilst obviously not as all consuming and passionate as yours, hardly suggest that he is a particularly peaceful individual!

[OMGImInPattaya]

11 minutes ago, JAG said:

 

Given that Mr Trump has never held any political office, then he has never been in a position to vote for any war.

 

I have to say that my observation of his recent statements, whilst obviously not as all consuming and passionate as yours, hardly suggest that he is a particularly peaceful individual!

So we know with Hillary support for war policies is 100%...at least with Trump it's 50-50  

[atyclb]

5 hours ago, keemapoot said:

Trump already announced that, if elected, he will select Dennis Rodman as Secretary of State and special envoy to N. Korea.  Yesterday, in support of this choice, Trump stated "Dennis knows words, he has the best words in Korean for ordering Korean food."
 

 

its very interesting imo how much the n korean leader loves basketball. he is able to put all animosity, paranoia, and distrust aside to play basketball with an american no less. in addition dennis rodman is able to put aside any preconceptions he may have about kim and north korea.  if through sports a reasonable solution and understand could be reached, super.

 

i for one would gladly join the n korean leader, d rodman and or anybody else for a game of basketball.

[Mansell]

2 hours ago, OMGImInPattaya said:

Just stating a fact. As for Schwartz, he's entitled to his opinions...and that's all they are. 

But his opinions are based on actual experience of Trump, and yours are not.

It was pretty obvious to me based on Trump's words and behavior that he acts, speaks like a sociopath. We have one in our family and after you have experienced their anti social behavior, lack of empathy to other humans, lies and more lies, (is this sounding familiar?) absolutely no conscience, no feelings of guilt like most of us have, never admitting they are wrong, and a tendency to ignore anything rational said to them.......not nice people to be around, and definitely not somebody to lead a country. Look back over history and you can pick a few like Stalin etc. America is dodging a bullet with this Trump guy. I just feel sorry for his family and his employees.....it is like living in a nightmare.

[ttthailand]

But his opinions are based on actual experience of Trump, and yours are not.
It was pretty obvious to me based on Trump's words and behavior that he acts, speaks like a sociopath. We have one in our family and after you have experienced their anti social behavior, lack of empathy to other humans, lies and more lies, (is this sounding familiar?) absolutely no conscience, no feelings of guilt like most of us have, never admitting they are wrong, and a tendency to ignore anything rational said to them.......not nice people to be around, and definitely not somebody to lead a country. Look back over history and you can pick a few like Stalin etc. America is dodging a bullet with this Trump guy. I just feel sorry for his family and his employees.....it is like living in a nightmare.

Sounds exactly like Hillary ... hahaha

[OMGImInPattaya]

56 minutes ago, JAG said:

 

Given that Mr Trump has never held any political office, then he has never been in a position to vote for any war.

 

I have to say that my observation of his recent statements, whilst obviously not as all consuming and passionate as yours, hardly suggest that he is a particularly peaceful individual!

So we know with Hillary support for war policies is 100%...at least with Trump it's 50-50  

[ttthailand]

It don't matter what we think now as our chance to vote was over awhile back. Hillary or trump we loose with one that has a lot of bad experience and one with no political experience... no win !!!

I hate trump but clinton is a liar and with her it will be business as usual and corruption run amuck .

I know how clinton will react so I think I would take my chance with trump .

[OMGImInPattaya]

20 minutes ago, ttthailand said:

Sounds exactly like Hillary ... hahaha

You beat me too it...she has a top personal aide whose spouse is a serial sexual pervert and possible child sex-offender, is married to a serial rapist, has been a party to the slander of her husbands sexual assault victims, was a party to the lies told to the grieving famalies as to the cause of death of the victims of her Libyan fiasco, covered up the suicide of her close friend and White House official Vince Foster, has continued with the charade that Bill Clinton, and not Webster Hubble, is the father of her child, set-up and maintained (and continually lied about) an illegal private email server because she is paranoid of any oversight of her pay to play activities while in government service and also seeking to avoid investigators Freedom of Information Act requests...and that poster has the gall to say that Trump has psychological issues.

Edited November 8, 2016 by OMGImInPattaya

[ilostmypassword]

56 minutes ago, OMGImInPattaya said:

So we know with Hillary support for war policies is 100%...at least with Trump it's 50-50  

Trump has repeatedly said that he wants to seize oil fields in the mideast for use by the USA.

[DLang]

Sounds like all the bluster about Iran a decade ago.

 

Nothing like creating the fear within one's flock. 

[OMGImInPattaya]

1 minute ago, ilostmypassword said:

Trump has repeatedly said that he wants to seize oil fields in the mideast for use by the USA.

I highly doubt it with gas at 2 bucks a gallon and the US on the verge of becoming a net oil exporter.

[ilostmypassword]

1 minute ago, OMGImInPattaya said:

I highly doubt it with gas at 2 bucks a gallon and the US on the verge of becoming a net oil exporter.

I think it's a stupid idea too for all sorts of reasons including that. But that's what he's said.

[jcsmith]

3 hours ago, OMGImInPattaya said:

Hillary Clinton has voted for war as as a senator, and supported lots of  them as Secretary of State , while Trump has not..it's very clear who's the warmongering candidate.

 

Trump has not because he's never held political office. He certainly has supported the war efforts in the media, it's on tape no matter how much he tries to deny it.

[OMGImInPattaya]

1 minute ago, ilostmypassword said:

I think it's a stupid idea too for all sorts of reasons including that. But that's what he's said.

People say lots of things...doesn't mean they're true, like: "I didn't have sex with that woman;" and "There were no classified emails on the server." 

[OMGImInPattaya]

1 minute ago, jcsmith said:

 

Trump has not because he's never held political office. He certainly has supported the war efforts in the media, it's on tape no matter how much he tries to deny it.

Yep, he's maimed and killed tens of thousands with those media comments.

[Chicog]

This is a no-brainer, surely?

Trump isn't mentally fit to have the nuclear codes.

 

 

[tonray]

I'm not worried about Trump starting a nuclear war. I ma more worried about millions of his supporters walking around with tin foil hats screaming about the next great threat to their ignorance.

[ilostmypassword]

22 minutes ago, OMGImInPattaya said:

People say lots of things...doesn't mean they're true, like: "I didn't have sex with that woman;" and "There were no classified emails on the server." 

Apart from whether those statements you cited signify what you want them to, you clearly don't understand the difference between statements of fact and statements of intent.

[boomerangutang]

3 hours ago, daveAustin said:

The single most important question in this campaign: Which candidate is better equipped to manage the North Korean threat without triggering catastrophe?
Trump, because he's more likely to get in there and take out the regime now before it has enough time to be able to shrink a warhead and plonk it on an ICBM, thus having everyone by the balls. There is no negotiating with NK I'm afraid and Clinton will languish and simply deliver more of the same.

 

     On the one hand, it's a relief to hear a Trump supporter articulating thoughts about what Trump might do re; N.Korea.  I'm glad cooler heads have prevailed for past decades.  Bombing N.Korea is lose-lose for everyone except weapons manufacturers.    The N.Korean junta is not a real threat to the US.  It is mostly a threat to its own people.

 

       The US has a checkered recent history with invading small Asian countries.  Things went badly in VN, and similar in Korean peninsula.   What's needed in N.Korea is regime change and it's probably only possible by the N.Korean people themselves.  When that happens, mass mental health problems will ensue which will be as dire as physical problems.  It could take decades for N.Koreans to shake off their mass psychosis.