# Trump Tweets Apparent Call for More U.S. Nuclear Weapons **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 22, 2016, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-tweets-apparent-call-for-more-u-s-nuclear-weapons/775411 "2016-12-22T23:57:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ganthet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de0a6/32.png) [@ganthet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ganthet)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-tweets-apparent-call-for-more-u-s-nuclear-weapons/775411/41 "2016-12-23T04:37:19Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Does anyone even know what prompted this? I mean, with most of his tweets, it’s because someone said something about him or something happened that he felt he had to tweet about. Was this just some random thought that transited the space between his ears? Speculation is that is in response to a [speech](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/22/us/politics/trump-says-us-should-expand-its-nuclear-capability.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0) Putin gave suggesting that Russia would add to its nuclear arsenal. > [@New York Times](#): > > Mr. Trump’s statement, in a midafternoon Twitter post, may have been a response to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who in a speech to his military’s leadership in Moscow earlier on Thursday vowed to strengthen Russia’s nuclear missiles. > > Mr. Putin said nuclear forces needed to be bolstered so they could “reliably penetrate any existing and prospective missile defense systems,” apparently a reference to the Pentagon’s efforts to develop systems capable of shooting down nuclear-armed rockets. > > Shortly after Mr. Putin’s comments were reported by the news media, Mr. Trump said on Twitter that the United States must “strengthen and expand” its nuclear forces “until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.” He did not elaborate. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-tweets-apparent-call-for-more-u-s-nuclear-weapons/775411/42 "2016-12-23T04:49:55Z")
> [@ganthet](#): > > Speculation is that is in response to a [speech](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/22/us/politics/trump-says-us-should-expand-its-nuclear-capability.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0) Putin gave suggesting that Russia would add to its nuclear arsenal. “until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.” And that’s that. Trump is the King of generalized non-specific clearly stated demands. ---
**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:** [December 23, 2016, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-tweets-apparent-call-for-more-u-s-nuclear-weapons/775411/43 "2016-12-23T05:01:27Z")
> [@ganthet](#): > > Speculation is that is in response to a [speech](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/22/us/politics/trump-says-us-should-expand-its-nuclear-capability.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0) Putin gave suggesting that Russia would add to its nuclear arsenal. I read about that, but the article I read added that Putin writes stuff like that pretty much every week. Who knows, maybe this is the first time El Trumpo noticed. ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-tweets-apparent-call-for-more-u-s-nuclear-weapons/775411/44 "2016-12-23T05:05:08Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > And the Twitterverse would rejoice. yay ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-tweets-apparent-call-for-more-u-s-nuclear-weapons/775411/45 "2016-12-23T05:39:06Z")
> [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](#): > > Maybe but I found it refreshing to talk to a Trump supporter who didn’t just buy his bullshit whole cloth. Like I said, it was refreshing. There’s someone trying to be a critical thinker. He is young. He has time to grow into it. Sorry, friend, but if that person’s response to everything was “Trump’s going to give America its balls back”, then he is buying the whole bolt of cloth. ---
**Author:** ![Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgruntled_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-tweets-apparent-call-for-more-u-s-nuclear-weapons/775411/46 "2016-12-23T06:07:11Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Sorry, friend, but if that person’s response to everything was “Trump’s going to give America its balls back”, then he is buying the whole bolt of cloth. Well, I was there. I heard his actual replies not a paraphrase of them from a second hand source ( no matter how great a source I obviously am ). He acknowledged Trump’s flaws he just didn’t give enough of a damn about them. He was a one issue voter not someone who bought the whole bolt of cloth. Are you doubting that one issue voters exist? I’m not one but I believe that they do exist. Now, you might be saying that the entire bolt of cloth that Trump ran on was giving America it’s balls back. I’d never considered that. I’d have to think on that one. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-tweets-apparent-call-for-more-u-s-nuclear-weapons/775411/47 "2016-12-23T06:11:35Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Are we in GD all of a sudden? The guy doesn’t need a reasoned response in the Pit. > > As for the OP, as said above this was in response to Putin. What’s Trump supposed to say? OK, you build more, I’m gonna cut our arsenal? How about nothing? How about he says FUCKING NOTHING until he has one little fucking clue about what is going on, instead of spewing the first god-damn thing that pops into his tiny addled brain-stem? ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-tweets-apparent-call-for-more-u-s-nuclear-weapons/775411/48 "2016-12-23T06:17:15Z")
And what was the explanation from Trump’s handlers this time about what he _really_ meant? Something along the lines of: “Oh, Trump did not really mean that we should have more nuclear weapons. He _really_ meant that we should cautiously negotiate with all nuclear nations to achieve non-proliferation.” Trump: “My cat’s breath smells like cat food” Spokesperson: “What he really meant was that we must negotiate trade treaties carefully” ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-tweets-apparent-call-for-more-u-s-nuclear-weapons/775411/49 "2016-12-23T07:13:18Z")
> [@HeweyLogan](#): > > Good. You are a dumb fucker, even for a come bubble like you. Go forth, and enjoy your lifestyle of coprophagia to the fullest. This merely shows again how stupid our future president is, and how poorly he understands his job and the issues facing him now. I almost wish that in the past we had a conduit that would wash the mental diarrhea of former presidents over us as Twitter has allowed Trump to do. Any reference point for this level of intimacy with a booger eating moron would be informative to our current situation. From now on, if it involves Trump and the Twitverse, I’m going to ignore it. Twitter isn’t an official outlet of the US Government, and it’s just a distraction. I’ve got enough stupid people to be irritated by already. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-tweets-apparent-call-for-more-u-s-nuclear-weapons/775411/50 "2016-12-23T07:36:59Z")
> [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](#): > > He was a one issue voter not someone who bought the whole bolt of cloth. Are you doubting that one issue voters exist? Are you fucking serious? That’s not even an _issue_. It’s just someone who has zero critical thinking skills. That’s someone who can’t smell the bullshit even when it’s stinking up the whole house. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-tweets-apparent-call-for-more-u-s-nuclear-weapons/775411/51 "2016-12-23T08:09:22Z")
Orange Bozo brings us closer to WWWIII with every stupid tweet. He’ll probably have nuclear weapons wired in to launch directly from his Twitter account. I suspect he’ll nuke New Mexico first because it’s kinda Mexican. His cabinet needs to implement Article 25 and put Pence in charge before it’s too late. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-tweets-apparent-call-for-more-u-s-nuclear-weapons/775411/52 "2016-12-23T08:35:07Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > As I’ve said before: > > > > The most profoundly stupid and uninformed voters in America put the most spectacularly unqualified candidate into the world’s most powerful office. > > > > What could go wrong? > > And of course the most intelligent and informed voters chose otherwise? It must be such a grand feeling, basking in your own intellect and knowing how superior you are to those who think differently. Anyone who voted for Trump is scum. A bigot and sadist. Calling them stupid isn’t insulting them, it’s being overly nice to them. Nor did it require being particularly “superior” to know what an awful and incompetent person he is. I doubt that anyone too stupid to see through Trump would be intelligent enough to actually capable of voting in the first place, which is why I don’t buy the “they were just stupid” excuse. Which I note has become a common defense of people supporting the Republicans; that they are too _stupid_ to know what they are doing. Why this is supposed to be a \*defense \*of them I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-tweets-apparent-call-for-more-u-s-nuclear-weapons/775411/53 "2016-12-23T14:48:39Z")
Relax. According to our good friends over at _Daily Kos_, he’s just talking about an arms race. > [@](#): > > Let it be an arms race. We will outmatch them at every pass. And outlast them all > **[Donald Trump 'clarifies' nuke tweet: 'Let it be an arms race'](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/12/23/1613927/-Donald-Trump-clarifies-nuke-tweet-Let-it-be-an-arms-race)** > > On Thursday, Unpresidented-elect Donald Trump horrified every thinking person on the planet when he casually and ignorantly tweeted that the United States needed more “nukes.” And on Friday morning, when asked to clarify,... Whew! What a relief! Just a wildly expensive investment in things we hope to God we never use. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-tweets-apparent-call-for-more-u-s-nuclear-weapons/775411/54 "2016-12-23T15:30:44Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Relax. According to our good friends over at _Daily Kos_, he’s just talking about an arms race. > [Donald Trump 'clarifies' nuke tweet: 'Let it be an arms race'](http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/12/23/1613927/-Donald-Trump-clarifies-nuke-tweet-Let-it-be-an-arms-race) > Whew! What a relief! Just a wildly expensive investment in things we hope to God we never use. Or things we will, 50 years from now, have to find a safe way to dispose of. ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-tweets-apparent-call-for-more-u-s-nuclear-weapons/775411/55 "2016-12-23T16:32:17Z")
I don’t even know what the tweet is supposed to mean. Can we just what Trump even is trying to communicate here without getting all partisan? Probably hopeless right? Ok. “Until the world comes to its senses regarding nukes” – what does that mean in Donald’s brain? Until they just accept that the US is the only country that should have nukes? That’s the only way I can parse it, but it’s the opposite of what he said before: that MORE countries should have nukes. ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-tweets-apparent-call-for-more-u-s-nuclear-weapons/775411/56 "2016-12-23T16:34:36Z")
If Donald were to tweet classified info, we have to impeach right? Anyone else think that is only a matter of time? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-tweets-apparent-call-for-more-u-s-nuclear-weapons/775411/57 "2016-12-23T16:35:18Z")
> [@Sterling\_Archer](#): > > I don’t even know what the tweet is supposed to mean. Can we just what Trump even is trying to communicate here without getting all partisan? Probably hopeless right? Ok. “Until the world comes to its senses regarding nukes” – what does that mean in Donald’s brain? Until they just accept that the US is the only country that should have nukes? That’s the only way I can parse it, but it’s the opposite of what he said before: that MORE countries should have nukes. It means nothing. He doesn’t mean anything and it’s intentional. He just says shit and we need to start pointing that out instead of trying to read between the lines looking for any sort of substantive and clever policy to reveal itself. Here’s what that statement really means: It means, we’re not talking about Uday and Qusay’s pay for play scheme, nor are we talking about Israel, nor are we talking about his 5%, or is it (?) 10% tariff on China. Looks to me like his nuclear policy is working. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-tweets-apparent-call-for-more-u-s-nuclear-weapons/775411/58 "2016-12-23T16:46:25Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > Or things we will, 50 years from now, have to find a safe way to dispose of. We’ll have “clean coal” and the Star Wars shield by then, so that won’t be as much of a technical problem. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-tweets-apparent-call-for-more-u-s-nuclear-weapons/775411/59 "2016-12-23T16:47:57Z")
> [@Sterling\_Archer](#): > > I don’t even know what the tweet is supposed to mean. Can we just what Trump even is trying to communicate here without getting all partisan? Probably hopeless right? Ok. “Until the world comes to its senses regarding nukes” – what does that mean in Donald’s brain? Until they just accept that the US is the only country that should have nukes? That’s the only way I can parse it, but it’s the opposite of what he said before: that MORE countries should have nukes. I suspect it is old cold war style missle gap rhetoric. So long as someone else has the ability to destroy the world 3 times over we need to be able to destroy the world 4 times over. Or to put int another way: Until this brush fire comes under control we need to spray it with gasoline. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-tweets-apparent-call-for-more-u-s-nuclear-weapons/775411/60 "2016-12-23T16:50:36Z")
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