Opinion: Everyone who grasps the risk of nuclear war says Trump shouldn’t be trusted

Los Angeles Times ^ | Sept. 26, 2024 3 AM PT | Jill Lawrence

[E. Pluribus Unum]

It was a mistake to visit Los Alamos in the middle of a presidential campaign that Donald Trump might win. I get that now, after wandering around the New Mexico town that is synonymous with clichés like “cautionary tale” and “Pandora’s box” and “be careful what you wish for.”

The shadow over the Manhattan Project — the undeniable feat of scientific brainpower that gave us the nuclear bomb — is apparent nine miles from this haunting town, in a roadside protest sign that quotes Pope Francis speaking five years ago in Hiroshima: “The possessing of nuclear weapons is immoral.” It is apparent in a video at the local history museum, as scientists reflect on their work with ambivalence and pride — regretful that Japanese leaders were not offered the chance to see a demonstration of a nuclear bomb and perhaps surrender before two cities were destroyed; thankful that after President Franklin Roosevelt’s death, President Truman followed through with the plan to use the bombs that ended World War II.

Truman could have stopped it. He didn’t, but right afterward he ordered that presidential permission was required for such action, and his administration made it official policy in a 1948 memo: U.S. presidents had the sole authority to launch nuclear weapons. If a president gives the word, the military must obey. That’s even if America has not been attacked, and even if a president is demonstrably unfit. A president, for instance, such as Trump, whose reckless, divisive term ended with his loyalists — at his urging — staging a deadly attack on the Capitol to try to keep him in power after he lost the 2020 election.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

A president, for instance, such as Trump, whose reckless, divisive term ended with his loyalists — at his urging — staging a deadly attack on the Capitol to try to keep him in power after he lost the 2020 election.

They don't even pretend to tell the truth anymore.

[rlmorel]

Oh, gee whiz.

They mean grasping the risk of nuclear war like the people who are full tilt trying to ramp up the conflict in Ukraine with hundreds of billions of dollars of money we have to take from our great grandchildren?

Those people?

[DownInFlames]

So we are to trust a nitwit with an IQ of 80?

[alternatives?]

Escalating a war with a nuclear power, who believes they are threatened, is the way to avoid a nuclear war. Sure.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Alinsky 101: Accuse your enemy of doing what you’re doing.

[Right Brother]

Bingo. They are doing it with every issue.

[norwaypinesavage]

Anyone who grasps leadership knows Harris can’t be trusted to run anything.

[mkmensinger]

They said similar crap about Pres. Reagan

[jmaroneps37]

Of course since he was the only president not to have a war on his watch in decades Trump must be due to start one. Liars lie.

[ClearCase_guy]

Bingo. Reagan was going to get us all nuked. That dude was a crazy warmonger. And then he went and won the Cold War without firing a shot.

[Vision]

The LA Times must be betting readers are too stupid to realize Trump was already President and no new wars were started.

[Dick Bachert]

I BELIEVE you mean HARRIS!

[HandBasketHell]

Never mind that Trump didn't get us into any wars in his first tenure as president.

The same people lamenting the possibility of WWIII under Trump have been perfectly happy for a demented Alzheimer sufferer to be in charge of the codes for the last 4 years and are equally unbothered for the vacuous Beige Hillary to take over.

[Dick Bachert]

[Dick Bachert]

[xxqqzz]

So provoking Russia so that it threatens nuclear war is not a risk?

What about a President with dementia or a dumb washed up party girl?

[chuckee]

Are these the same 51 hacks on on permanent call to the Dem campaign committee that said Hunters laptop was Russian disinformation? The MSM is disgusting as cheap party propaganda

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

What next? Maybe they will recycle that TV spot that LBJ ran against Goldwater.

[Rdct29]

The one guy who kept us out of war is the danger. It isn't the administration that has us closer to nuclear war than ever before. The person who wrote this article is as stupid as Kamala. We avoid war by being strong and acting in our best interest. Biden and Hairass act weak and start wars with nuclear powers so they can fill their pockets with war profits. It's obvious who is more dangerous. Maybe not to a journalist who thinks highly of a dummy.

[abbastanza]

Cheaters and liars.