What If a President Loses Control?

When John F. Kennedy spoke at the United Nations on September 25, 1961, he talked about the dangers of the atomic age. “Today, every inhabitant of this planet must contemplate the day when this planet may no longer be habitable,” he said. “Every man, woman, and child lives under a nuclear sword of Damocles, hanging by the slenderest of threads, capable of being cut at any moment by accident, or miscalculation, or by madness. The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us.” Contrast those remarks with the thoughts of the reality-show star, real-estate developer, and President-elect Donald J. Trump, who, just before Christmas, tweeted that “the United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes,” and, on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” outdid himself by saying, “Let it be an arms race. We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all.” It’s hard to say what he meant when, on January 2nd, he tweeted, “North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won’t happen!”

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

Related:
Donald Trump’s Alarmingly Trumpian Transition
Health Scare Scratches Charles Manson from Trump’s List of Supreme Court Picks
The “Generation KKK” Fiasco