A senior adviser to Donald Trump on Monday defended his suggestion that the U.S. should allow some Asian countries to acquire nuclear weapons, and argued more countries need to get some “skin in the game.”
“Donald Trump’s overarching theme has been to put Americans first,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders, daughter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, explained in an interview on CNN Monday.
“And I think that he’s putting all things on the table that help keep our country safe, keep our borders secure. And that is his biggest focus,” he added.
Trump told the New York Times this weekend that he was open to the idea of Japan and South Korea developing their own nuclear arsenals, and reasoned that this would reduce their reliance on the United States.
During the interview Monday, CNN’s Alisyn Camerota questioned Sanders on Trump’s suggestion that the U.S. should rethink its policy of nuclear containment.
“How does it keep the U.S. safe if more countries get nuclear weapons?” the anchor asked.
“The big thing here is that we need some other countries to get some skin in the game,” Sanders insisted. “For far too long, the Obama administration has let everybody else walk free while America carries the burden for keeping the entire world safe, not just America safe, but the entire world safe.”
“You mean let other countries get nuclear skin in the game?” the CNN anchor pressed. “Because it has been the impression that by keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of other countries, that is what keeps the U.S. safe.”
“I don’t think he’s necessarily advocating we put nuclear bombs in the hands of everybody,” Sanders responded.
“Again, the theme is and the point is, is that we need to look at all options, and that we need to do — number one and our top priority and our top focus time and time again has to be to put Americans first and to keep Americans safe,” she added.
Sanders again repeated that Washington needs to look at all of its options.
“Clearly, what the past administration and the Obama administration has done and what Hillary Clinton did as secretary of state didn’t do that. And so we need to look at new things that, again, keep Americans safe and keep our country safe,” she said.
