Indiana Sen. Dan Coats said Thursday he is unsure whether Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump should be trusted more than President Obama with the launch codes for U.S. nuclear missiles.
“Let’s just say for the sake of our discussion that Donald Trump is the next president of the United States. Do you have more trust in his ability to handle the codes and national security than Barack Obama?” talk show host John Howell asked Coats during an interview on WLS Radio.
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“That’s a tough question,” Coats responded with a chuckle. “This is a nutso time here in politics and I understand people’s frustration, [but] I’m having a hard time trusting Donald Trump because he says one thing one day and then corrects it the next day.”
Coats continued, “Obviously he’s tapped into something here and he may be on his way to the presidency. I’m waiting for the responsible, calm, serious presidential Donald Trump to appear.”
“He says that’s going to happen — we will see,” the Republican senator said. “But, man, I don’t know how to answer that question.”
Coats is one of several GOP senators who’ve recently endorsed their colleague, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, for president. He is not the first to suggest Trump’s temperament is unbefitting of a potential commander in chief.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who exited the 2016 race after finishing poorly in the Iowa caucuses, frequently argued that the New York billionaire, among others, shouldn’t be left in charge of America’s nuclear weapons.
“It gets to temperament. That’s why it worries me to have someone like Donald Trump or Chris Christie in charge of the nuclear arsenal,” Paul said during a GOP debate in December.
