President Trump is wrong to think the United States needs a 10-fold increase in our nuclear arsenal, but he doesn’t deserve all the criticism he’s receiving.
At contention here is NBC News reporting on Wednesday that Trump requested the increase during a summer meeting with military and White House officials.
It sounds bad, but don’t rush to judgment.
First off, Trump’s knowledge of nuclear capabilities is limited. While Trump should have made himself aware of these critically important concerns, his desire to see an increase in U.S. nuclear weapons is not the breaking news that NBC claims. On the contrary, during his period as president-elect, Trump actually tweeted that he wanted more warheads (people freaked out then as well).
It’s also noteworthy that since the summer meeting, Trump seems to have backed off from his demands. That’s likely because he listened, learned, and is now far better versed in the adequacy of the current U.S. nuclear deterrent posture.
Yet it’s also necessary to note that Trump is far from alone in his presidential nuclear misunderstandings. Former President Bill Clinton once lost his nuclear launch codes but failed to tell the military for months. If the U.S. had come under nuclear attack in that period, every major American city, nuclear plant, and military base would have been destroyed, and no significant U.S. retaliation could have followed. Indeed, Clinton’s conduct was so astonishingly lax that one of his nuclear “football” carriers (a highly-esteemed military appointment) actually wrote a book about it.
In a slightly different way, Trump’s immediate predecessor also showed nuclear-strategic incompetence. Consider that former President Barack Obama came close to ruling out a first-use of U.S. nuclear weapons. It was not until late in his second term that the president recognized what a great pre-emptive strike opportunity his statement would give U.S. adversaries. Still, by even hinting at his reluctance to use nuclear weapons, Obama had already undermined U.S. deterrent posture.
Finally, there’s the issue of context.
In its report, NBC also suggests, “Two officials present said that at multiple points in the discussion, the president expressed a desire not just for more nuclear weapons, but for additional U.S. troops and military equipment.”
This would seem to suggest that the president’s overriding focus was strengthening the nation’s military in general. But whether you think increased spending on troops and equipment is a good thing or not, surely Trump should receive credit for his interest in military readiness? He is, after all, the commander-in-chief.
So yes, ultimately, Trump should have known better. Nevertheless, judged against his predecessors and considering his motivations in countering North Korea and protecting the U.S., I think the president deserves a little more sympathy here.
