nuclear-news

Not With a Bang, but With a Truth Social Post

The president is rattling a nuclear saber as a distraction.

The Atlantic. By Tom Nichols, August 1, 2025

Donald Trump, beset by a week of bad news, has decided to rattle the most dangerous saber of all. In a post today on his Truth Social site, the president claimed that in response to recent remarks by former Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, he has “ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions.” (All American submarines are nuclear-powered; Trump may mean submarines armed with ballistic nuclear weapons.) “Words are very important,” Trump added, “and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances.”

And then, of course: “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Trump’s words may mean nothing. The submarines that carry America’s sea-based nuclear deterrent routinely move around the world’s oceans. Each carries up to 20 nuclear warheads, on missiles with a range of more than 4,000 miles, and so almost anywhere can be an “appropriate region.” And Trump may not even have issued such orders; normally, the Pentagon and the White House do not discuss the movements of America’s ballistic-missile………………………………………….(Subscribers only) https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/08/trump-nuclear-threat/683748/

August 3, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized