# Should I be worried about NK nuking me? Also Trump... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 8, 2017, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-be-worried-about-nk-nuking-me-also-trump/793126 "2017-08-08T19:19:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-be-worried-about-nk-nuking-me-also-trump/793126/41 "2017-08-09T15:11:04Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Although advisors may seek to limit Enfant Terrible Trump’s public outbursts, the President has plenary authority over the deployment and use of nuclear weapons by law. But even if he doesn’t engage in the nightmare scenario of a unilateral strike, the inflammed rhetoric is not helping. You don’t deal with a crazy person by trying to out-crazy them. > > Stranger Some very smart and scared shitless people say Trump has the best crazy. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-be-worried-about-nk-nuking-me-also-trump/793126/42 "2017-08-09T15:31:15Z")
His words are backed with NUCLEAR WEAPONS! ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-be-worried-about-nk-nuking-me-also-trump/793126/43 "2017-08-09T16:51:21Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Some very smart and scared shitless people say Trump has the best crazy. Nah, he’s just spoiled and impetuous, an infant in a poorly tailored suit. Real crazy would eat him for lunch. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-be-worried-about-nk-nuking-me-also-trump/793126/44 "2017-08-09T20:42:06Z")
Any Dopers stationed in S. Korea? My daughter’s boyfriend is there right now and he’s pretty worried. He’s just a kid though and I don’t know what they’re telling them to psych them up. He has the idea that SOMETHING is about to happen very soon. They are training in some ways that they weren’t before, just in the past week or so. He has to be vague I guess. I guess that doesn’t mean “nuclear”, but it’s something to worry about. I worry anyway. Then again I worry about getting hit by buses. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-be-worried-about-nk-nuking-me-also-trump/793126/45 "2017-08-09T23:45:04Z")
I wonder if the 25th amendment removal process would be used if it looked like Trump was seriously considering a first strike against NK. I’m sure it has to have crossed the minds of some of the people that would exercise that option. Yes, I’m implying that at this point I think it’s far more likely that if there is a war it’s probably going to be Trump that starts it. Edited to add. Would the guy who actually launches the nukes actually do so if Trump ordered it in a first strike scenario, or do you all think that person would refuse the order? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-be-worried-about-nk-nuking-me-also-trump/793126/46 "2017-08-10T00:06:04Z")
As a veteran of the schools system during the Cuban Missile crisis, I am well versed in the art of Duck and Cover. I can open an “Ask the guy who knows how to duck and cover” thread if anyone is interested. ---
**Author:** ![Buttercup\_Smith](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buttercup_smith/32/473_2.png) [@Buttercup\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buttercup_Smith)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-be-worried-about-nk-nuking-me-also-trump/793126/47 "2017-08-10T00:50:58Z")
I am a 59’er and well remember the drills from that era and being in my hometown, in the heart of Georgia, and, noting the fallout shelter signs. Good times for a child. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-be-worried-about-nk-nuking-me-also-trump/793126/48 "2017-08-10T01:02:19Z")
I was born in '49 A Cold War kid in McCarthy time Stop 'em at the 38th parallel Blast those yellow reds to hell And Cold War kids were hard to kill Under their desks in an air raid drill -Billy Joel, “Leningrad” (From memory. I may have goobed it up.) We’re kicking it old school! ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-be-worried-about-nk-nuking-me-also-trump/793126/49 "2017-08-10T02:01:38Z")
I don’t really expect nukes to rain down on targets in the Western United States. But the State Department’s travel ban to North Korea effective September 1, together with a directive to all Americans to leave by that date, is discomfiting. [Reuters story on North Korea Travel Ban](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-usa-travel-idUSKBN1AI2H5) It’s hard not to speculate that Trump intends to take some preemptive action in North Korea sometime shortly after September 1st. Probably not with nukes, but he’ll be dumb enough to try something. That’s going to provoke a global response – all of which is difficult to foresee, making it inherently dangerous to… well, everyone in the world. But hey, Trump’s approval ratings will probably rise, so WIN! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-be-worried-about-nk-nuking-me-also-trump/793126/50 "2017-08-10T02:20:16Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > As a veteran of the schools system during the Cuban Missile crisis, I am well versed in the art of Duck and Cover. I can open an “Ask the guy who knows how to duck and cover” thread if anyone is interested. > [@Buttercup\_Smith](#): > > I am a 59’er and well remember the drills from that era and being in my hometown, in the heart of Georgia, and, noting the fallout shelter signs. Good times for a child. When I was in elementary school, we had three different types of drills: Fire drill – everyone march in an orderly fashion to leave the building via the nearest exit. Tornado drill – everybody march in an orderly fashion out to the hall and crouch down against an inside wall. “Atomic bomb” drill – everybody crouch down under your desk. Even though I was only 6 or 7 at the time, I remember thinking, “shouldn’t we at least go into the hall if an atomic bomb hits us?” ---
**Author:** ![betterlifethroughchemistry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/betterlifethroughchemistry/32/3094_2.png) [@betterlifethroughchemistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betterlifethroughchemistry)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-be-worried-about-nk-nuking-me-also-trump/793126/51 "2017-08-10T03:20:34Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > No, OP, you should not worry about Lil’ Kim’s nuclear arsenal. > > You should be more worried about getting hit by a bus. Or struck by lightning. Or getting struck by lightning while being hit by a bus. > > Get some proportion. There’s an entire world out to get you, and a tinpot Stalin-wannabe is waaaay down the list of likely effective candidates. One, the American military is about 100 time larger than the NK military and, I would reasonably guess (given the work we do), about 1000 times more advanced and sophisticated…I’m not offering up statistics, but Google would be a good place to start…any actionable attack upon the US or its territories would result in an outcome not favorable to the present NK leadership…and I don’t care what you think of Trump, the result would be the same if it were GWB, WJC, or BHO… Two, the Chinese are significantly invested in the US, and their economy depends significantly upon the US, so I doubt they would want their little stepchild to do anything that potentially screws with their money…not to say that NK would not act without Chinese approval, but even the lil’ potbelly NK fool would realize such action would pretty much result in NK being completely isolated and ultimately destroyed… I’ve become very good friends with a lady who is an engineer at our major customer and works in a very large manufacturing facility owned by one of the largest companies in the world…during her first pregnancy, she asked me, from a chemical standpoint, which areas of the plant should she avoid…I pointed out Area A, and Area B, and maybe Area C, but then told her, that, given the the EHS controls in those areas, that the biggest threat to her and her unborn child is the drive home…and to not fall in the shower…and to eat right…exercise…look both ways when crossing the street…don’t text when you drive… And as stated above, get some proportion… ---
**Author:** ![betterlifethroughchemistry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/betterlifethroughchemistry/32/3094_2.png) [@betterlifethroughchemistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betterlifethroughchemistry)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-be-worried-about-nk-nuking-me-also-trump/793126/52 "2017-08-10T03:40:58Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > While we don’t have adequate defenses against the MIRV warheads that the Chinese and Russians would be able to send our way, we have more than enough of a shield against the dozen (maybe) single warhead missiles Kimmy would have in his arsenal. The bigger danger would be him targeting one of our allies that don’t have our thousands of counter-missiles. And they (Russia and China) certainly do not have the defences against our MIRVs, which is the basis for MAD and fact we do not (at this point) attack one another… The point you make about Korea targeting one of our allies singularly is valid to a degree - to do so would force NK’s allies to support their actions, and, given the impact of the US on the global economy, I think (IMHO) they would find themselves a very lonely country…and would likely mean the overthrow of the present leadership…not to say it wouldn’t/couldn’t happen, it’s just that such an action would be absolutely detrimental to themselves… ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-be-worried-about-nk-nuking-me-also-trump/793126/53 "2017-08-10T12:32:01Z")
> [@betterlifethroughchemistry](#): > > One, the American military is about 100 time larger than the NK military and, It’s not. For active personnel there is a slight US advantage 1.3 vs 1.2 million. Including all reserve and paramilitary organizations the totals are 7.7 vs 2.2 million… with North Korea being larger. NK is about 3.5 times larger at full mobilization not one hundredth the size of US forces. > **[List of countries by number of military and paramilitary personnel](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_troops)** > > This is a list of countries by number of military and paramilitary personnel. It includes any government-sponsored soldiers used to further the domestic and foreign policies of their respective government. The term "country" is used in its most common use, in the sense of state which exercises sovereignty or has limited recognition. > The list consists of columns that can be sorted by clicking on the appropriate title: > As military forces around the world are constantly changing in size, no de... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-be-worried-about-nk-nuking-me-also-trump/793126.md?page=2)