Wednesday on Morning Joe, General Mike Hayden may have laid down the singular most terrifying commentary on a possible Trump presidency that has ever been uttered. Not only is Donald Trump erratic and ignorant, but according to Hayden our nuclear launch protocols aren’t in any way set up to stop a president bent on using nukes.
Trump has no foreign policy advisers that are highly respected by, basically, anyone that knows what they are talking about. Worse than that, he is inconsistent. According to Hayden, inconsistent and unpredictable behavior, “frighten your friends and they tempt your enemies.”
In a terrifying recollection, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough recounted the time a high-ranking international security official met with Trump and was stunned when the Republican nominee asked him three separate times why America can’t use nuclear weapons if we “have them.”
Three times he asked about the use of nuclear weapons. Three times he asked. At one point, ‘If we have them, why can’t we use them?’ That’s one of the reasons he just doesn’t have foreign policy experts around.
Hayden, upon the reminder that Trump has asked three times about nuclear weapons in a single one-hour briefing, tells all of us a chilling truth. Our nuclear launch protocols are designed for decisive action, they are not designed to question a launch order.
The system is designed for speed and decisiveness. It is not designed to debate the decision.
If Donald Trump decides that he has been offended, or that a nuclear launch would make him look powerful in the history books (perhaps edging his tiny little paws out of them) there is no process for sane people to stop the launch. If Trump loses his mind and orders a launch, it will happen, we are not set up to protect ourselves in the case of a megalomaniac leading the country.
Source: http://www.msnbc.com