Donald Trump, following Wednesday’s set-piece foreign policy speech, said Thursday that he wouldn’t rule out using nuclear weapons against the Islamic State.
Although he conceded that he would consider the ultimate weapon, he did not suggest that he was actively thinking of deploying them. When asked by NBC’s Savannah Guthrie whether he would “rule out the use of nuclear weapons in the fight against ISIS,” he answered, “I don’t want to rule out anything. I will be the last to use nuclear weapons; it’s a horror to use nuclear weapons. But I would never ever rule it out.”
It is normal for a commander in chief to say that no strategy or military tactic is off the table, so America’s enemies are denied important planning information. President Obama has been criticized for doing the opposite by, for example, declaring a firm date in advance for the withdrawal of U.S. armed forces from Iraq.
When pressed for specifics on his ideas for fighting the Islamic State, Trump declined to provide details about whether ground troops were necessary, or about the types of weapons he would use.
Trump delivered a major foreign policy speech in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, outlining his policy of putting “America first” and avoiding “the false song of globalism.” He said he would be reluctant to take America to war, but if he did, it would be to win.
In the wake of that speech, in which the GOP front-runner sought to counter allegations that he is unserious and ignorant about policy, analysts and news media are poring over what his doctrine portends.
