Trump Makes Fools of His Spokespeople Again, Makes Explicit Nuclear Threat
According to the Washington Post’s Philip Rucker, White House officials were brushing off the “fire and fury” threat Donald Trump made yesterday, saying it had nothing to do with nuclear escalation.
WH officials take issue with “people on TV who know nothing about North Korea” interpreting “fire & fury” as nuclear escalation, per source. https://t.co/1uicBCesZL
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) August 9, 2017
And then this morning, as he’s done many times before, Trump fired up his iPhone, logged on to Twitter, and made fools of his spokespeople by doubling down on his threat and making it perfectly clear he was talking about a nuclear attack.
My first order as President was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 9, 2017
…Hopefully we will never have to use this power, but there will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 9, 2017
Apart from the unhinged bellicose threat, these two tweets are just packed with lies and distortions; it’s actually kind of impressive how many falsehoods he managed to fit in just two tweets.
First, his order to “modernize” the nuclear arsenal was not his first executive order by a long shot. There were many before it, and in fact it wasn’t an executive order — it was a presidential memo.
Second, this effort to review and modernize the arsenal was actually begun under President Obama, so once again Trump is trying to take credit for something he isn’t responsible for.
Third, there has been no modernization or renovation yet. This effort hasn’t progressed past the review stage. So when Trump says “it is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before,” it’s… yes… an outright lie. Nothing has changed in the US nuclear arsenal, and it will be years before any renovation takes place.
Nations that are not friendly to the United States are watching this moron flailing around, making threats and lying. What do you think the effect of that is going to be?
