Trump, Nixon and the nuclear codes
Trump and his ally Musk are pursuing a strategy (far from unknown) of moving fast and breaking things.
In the last few days Musk’s Doge outfit managed to sack most of the people in charge if US nuclear warheads. Shortly after, once they found their contact details, they rehired them.
Given the erratic nature of the activities or Trump and Musk- albeit there is an element of method in the madness- the issue of the nuclear codes is relevant
Trump has access but he can’t himself fire any missiles. Generals have to give the order and soldiers have to do it. We’re not quite in Dr Strangelove territory yet.
Nixon, probably the closest in style and method to Trump of recent Presidents, in the late 1960s tried to order a nuclear strike on North Korea when he was drunk one evening. Henry Kissinger may seem like an unlikely pacifist but it is thought he stalled the order until the morning when Nixon had sobered up and was persuaded to think better of it.
“If the president had his way,” Kissinger growled to aides more than once, “there would be a nuclear war each week!” This may not have been an idle jest. The CIA’s top Vietnam specialist, George Carver, reportedly said that in 1969, when the North Koreans shot down a US spy plane, “Nixon became incensed and ordered a tactical nuclear strike… The Joint Chiefs were alerted and asked to recommend targets, but Kissinger got on the phone to them. They agreed not to do anything until Nixon sobered up in the morning.”
https://www.theguardian.com/weekend/story/0,3605,362958,00.html
Of course bets may be off if Musk sacks the Joint Chiefs as well….
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