Morning Joe's Mika Brzezinski asked future press secretary Sean Spicer for clarification regarding the president-elect's recent pro-nuclear proliferation tweet:
The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 22, 2016
Trump said to "let it be an arms race," Spicer explained in response. Brzezinski grimly passed this news along on national television this morning:
The fact that Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough delivered this news in their holiday pajamas was lost on exactly no one.
Spicer later tried to backpedal, telling NBC's Matt Lauer that an arms race isn't going to happen. According to him, other countries who were intending to build their nuclear stockpile will correctly interpret Trump's tweet and then "come to their senses."
"We're all going to be just fine," Spicer said.
The Arms Control Association estimates that the U.S. has 7,100 nuclear warheads to Russia's 7,300. That's enough missile power to destroy most of Earth's landmass.
Sara Kendzior's thread on Trump and Putin releasing statements within 24 hours of each other that call for strengthening nuclear arsenals is sobering. You'll want to pour another shot of whiskey in your morning coffee after you read the Slate interview she cites. It details Trump's 1987 plan to partner with Russia in order to levy harsh sanctions against "pre-nuclear" countries seeking nukes and other nuclear countries who won't reduce their arsenals:
Compare Trump and Putin statements on nukes, both delivered within last 24 hours pic.twitter.com/0RFylUhpe8
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) December 22, 2016
Trump's more recent half-thoughts about nuclear devastation are enough to make you dump the coffee and start chugging the whiskey directly from the bottle:
A year ago, @realDonaldTrump said the power & devastation were his top nuclear priorities.
Today? An "arms race."https://t.co/gfBtv8UgE3pic.twitter.com/sG09UN5X6P
— Eli Yokley (@eyokley) December 23, 2016
And the reminder that Obama already has a $1 trillion dollar plan to upgrade our nuclear capabilities—a move he made in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea—will make you want to spit out your whiskey, crawl under your desk, and hide there for the next four years.
If only Trump would listen to himself:
The global warming we should be worried about is the global warming caused by NUCLEAR WEAPONS in the hands of crazy or incompetent leaders!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2014