Trump discussed dropping nuclear bombs on hurricanes with national security officials.

[The Romulan Republic]

https://axios.com/trump-nuclear-bombs-h ... 3f51c.html

President Trump has suggested multiple times to senior Homeland Security and national security officials that they explore using nuclear bombs to stop hurricanes from hitting the United States, according to sources who have heard the president's private remarks and been briefed on a National Security Council memorandum that recorded those comments.

Behind the scenes: During one hurricane briefing at the White House, Trump said, "I got it. I got it. Why don't we nuke them?" according to one source who was there. "They start forming off the coast of Africa, as they're moving across the Atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can't we do that?" the source added, paraphrasing the president's remarks.

Asked how the briefer reacted, the source recalled he said something to the effect of, "Sir, we'll look into that."
Trump replied by asking incredulously how many hurricanes the U.S. could handle and reiterating his suggestion that the government intervene before they make landfall.

The briefer "was knocked back on his heels," the source in the room added. "You could hear a gnat fart in that meeting. People were astonished. After the meeting ended, we thought, 'What the f---? What do we do with this?'"

Trump also raised the idea in another conversation with a senior administration official. A 2017 NSC memo describes that second conversation, in which Trump asked whether the administration should bomb hurricanes to stop them from hitting the homeland. A source briefed on the NSC memo said it does not contain the word "nuclear"; it just says the president talked about bombing hurricanes.

The source added that this NSC memo captured "multiple topics, not just hurricanes. … It wasn't that somebody was so terrified of the bombing idea that they wrote it down. They just captured the president’s comments."

The sources said that Trump's "bomb the hurricanes" idea — which he floated early in the first year and a bit of his presidency before John Bolton took over as national security adviser — went nowhere and never entered a formal policy process.
White House response: A senior administration official said, "We don't comment on private discussions that the president may or may not have had with his national security team."

A different senior administration official, who has been briefed on the president's hurricane bombing suggestion, defended Trump's idea and said it was no cause for alarm. "His goal — to keep a catastrophic hurricane from hitting the mainland — is not bad," the official said. "His objective is not bad."

"What people near the president do is they say 'I love a president who asks questions like that, who’s willing to ask tough questions.' ... It takes strong people to respond to him in the right way when stuff like this comes up. For me, alarm bells weren't going off when I heard about it, but I did think somebody is going to use this to feed into 'the president is crazy' narrative."

The big picture: Trump didn't invent this idea. The notion that detonating a nuclear bomb over the eye of a hurricane could be used to counteract convection currents dates to the Eisenhower era, when it was floated by a government scientist.

The idea keeps resurfacing in the public even though scientists agree it won't work. The myth has been so persistent that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. government agency that predicts changes in weather and the oceans, published an online fact sheet for the public under the heading "Tropical Cyclone Myths Page."

The page states: "Apart from the fact that this might not even alter the storm, this approach neglects the problem that the released radioactive fallout would fairly quickly move with the tradewinds to affect land areas and cause devastating environmental problems. Needless to say, this is not a good idea."

About 3 weeks after Trump's 2016 election, National Geographic published an article titled, "Nuking Hurricanes: The Surprising History of a Really Bad Idea." It found, among other problems, that:

Dropping a nuclear bomb into a hurricane would be banned under the terms of the Peaceful Nuclear Explosions Treaty between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union. So that could stave off any experiments, as long as the U.S. observes the terms of the treaty.
Atlantic hurricane season runs until Nov. 30.

Every official who does not support either impeachment or the 25th Amendment immediately is derelict in their duty.

[Rogue 9]

Asking that question is hardly the worst thing he's done. It betrays ignorance of the power involved in a hurricane and not much else. Now, if someone explained to him that a hurricane is orders of magnitude more powerful than a bomb, could not be disrupted by one, and the attempt would only make a radioactive hurricane, and then he tried to order the Air Force to do it anyway, immediate exercise of 25th Amendment power by the Cabinet would of course be called for, but asking questions about things on which he is ignorant isn't an offense.

[The Romulan Republic]

Asking that question is hardly the worst thing he's done. It betrays ignorance of the power involved in a hurricane and not much else. Now, if someone explained to him that a hurricane is orders of magnitude more powerful than a bomb, could not be disrupted by one, and the attempt would only make a radioactive hurricane, and then he tried to order the Air Force to do it anyway, immediate exercise of 25th Amendment power by the Cabinet would of course be called for, but asking questions about things on which he is ignorant isn't an offense.

Granted, but the thing about Trump is that he's really, really bad at taking no for an answer.

It is also, to say the least, unsettling that a PotUS would be a) that ignorant about nuclear weapons and b) that cavalier about using them.

[Eulogy]

Granted, but the thing about Trump is that he's really, really bad at taking no for an answer.

At this point I'd like to see His Orangeness try to pick a fight with his own military when they inevitably refuse his orders to nuke their own soil, if he isn't impeached first that is.

[The Romulan Republic]

Granted, but the thing about Trump is that he's really, really bad at taking no for an answer.

At this point I'd like to see His Orangeness try to pick a fight with his own military when they inevitably refuse his orders to nuke their own soil, if he isn't impeached first that is.

He'd be impeached in the House if he tried it, probably, but I bet even this wouldn't be enough to get Moscow Mitch to dump him in the Senate and allow a fair trial and conviction.

So, I guess the best hope would be for the military to say "fuck it" and opt for a coup, in this scenario.

[Tiriol]

Granted, but the thing about Trump is that he's really, really bad at taking no for an answer.

At this point I'd like to see His Orangeness try to pick a fight with his own military when they inevitably refuse his orders to nuke their own soil, if he isn't impeached first that is.

He'd be impeached in the House if he tried it, probably, but I bet even this wouldn't be enough to get Moscow Mitch to dump him in the Senate and allow a fair trial and conviction.

So, I guess the best hope would be for the military to say "fuck it" and opt for a coup, in this scenario.

I really can't see the US military going for a coup, not unless Trump and his cronies order an attack against the US itself as a sort of huge Fuck You after losing some election or people protesting against him. And even then they simply might refuse to comply with his order - hopefully; some die-hard Trumpist officer down the chain of command might actually obey, if for nothing more than "well, he's the Commander-In-Chief..." and being a fanatical MAGA fellow. And then there would be madness.

[The Romulan Republic]

At this point I'd like to see His Orangeness try to pick a fight with his own military when they inevitably refuse his orders to nuke their own soil, if he isn't impeached first that is.

He'd be impeached in the House if he tried it, probably, but I bet even this wouldn't be enough to get Moscow Mitch to dump him in the Senate and allow a fair trial and conviction.

So, I guess the best hope would be for the military to say "fuck it" and opt for a coup, in this scenario.

I really can't see the US military going for a coup, not unless Trump and his cronies order an attack against the US itself as a sort of huge Fuck You after losing some election or people protesting against him. And even then they simply might refuse to comply with his order - hopefully; some die-hard Trumpist officer down the chain of command might actually obey, if for nothing more than "well, he's the Commander-In-Chief..." and being a fanatical MAGA fellow. And then there would be madness.

Probably my biggest fear right now for the future of the world is that on election day, Trump will refuse to step down (probably citing "illegal immigrant voter fraud" and possibly calling on the Electoral College to appoint him regardless of the vote), and that enough of the military will go with him to turn it into a second civil war.

There are theoretically worse scenarios (Trump actually clearly winning the election, the military siding with him entirely, etc.), but I consider those less likely/imminent.

[Broomstick]

US Military swear to uphold the constitution, not the president. If Trump loses and the military backs him in a coup to keep him in office this country is done, stick a fork in it.

[bilateralrope]

This idea keeps popping up. But Trump manages to add in one detail that might be an original thought:

"They start forming off the coast of Africa, as they're moving across the Atlantic,

Yep. He manages to be racist even on this topic.

[The Romulan Republic]

US Military swear to uphold the constitution, not the president. If Trump loses and the military backs him in a coup to keep him in office this country is done, stick a fork in it.

Well, see, the thing is that Republican Electors on the Electoral College could ignore the vote and make Trump President, and that would be entirely legal. It would be in accordance with the Constitution, and the military would be bound by their oaths to back Trump against the people*. Of course, the Faithless Elector issue cuts both ways- pro-Democrat Electors could ignore a result in their states that was favorable to Trump.

But you're quite right that who the military sided with would determine the outcome. Left-wing militias are not overthrowing a Trump dictatorship with the full backing of the US military, however much some people seem to think otherwise.




*Do y'all see why I have a passionate hatred for the Electoral College?

[Broomstick]

US Military swear to uphold the constitution, not the president. If Trump loses and the military backs him in a coup to keep him in office this country is done, stick a fork in it.

Well, see, the thing is that Republican Electors on the Electoral College could ignore the vote and make Trump President, and that would be entirely legal. It would be in accordance with the Constitution, and the military would be bound by their oaths to back Trump against the people*.

Using the military to enforce law against the civilian population is largely prohibited by the Posse Comitatus Act. Trump ordering the military to enforce election results is arguably an illegal command and the military is supposed to be able to refuse to obey illegal orders. Of course, there is always a gap between theory and practice and such a circumstance is the sort of thing that can trigger a civil war.

But you're quite right that who the military sided with would determine the outcome. Left-wing militias are not overthrowing a Trump dictatorship with the full backing of the US military, however much some people seem to think otherwise.

The same applies to the right-wing militias, which are more common in the US.

[The Romulan Republic]

US Military swear to uphold the constitution, not the president. If Trump loses and the military backs him in a coup to keep him in office this country is done, stick a fork in it.

Well, see, the thing is that Republican Electors on the Electoral College could ignore the vote and make Trump President, and that would be entirely legal. It would be in accordance with the Constitution, and the military would be bound by their oaths to back Trump against the people*.

Using the military to enforce law against the civilian population is largely prohibited by the Posse Comitatus Act. Trump ordering the military to enforce election results is arguably an illegal command and the military is supposed to be able to refuse to obey illegal orders. Of course, there is always a gap between theory and practice and such a circumstance is the sort of thing that can trigger a civil war.

Well, I'm assuming that if Trump did that there'd probably be backlash on a level that he could argue there was a state of insurrection.

The same applies to the right-wing militias, which are more common in the US.

Indeed. If we are ever so unfortunate as to get to that point again in America, the outcome is going to hinge on where the military ultimately goes- do the overwhelmingly go against Trump (probably a quick coup, some relatively minor rioting/terrorism from his base, but maybe not a full-scale war), do they split down the middle (prolonged civil war), or do they overwhelmingly go with Trump (America becomes a fascist dictatorship)?

Its complicated by the fact that while a lot of the top brass and the intelligence community is pretty clearly disdainful of Trump, a lot of the rank and file are Trump supporters. If they get conflicting orders from the President and their immediate superiors, who do they follow?

Of course, I'd expect National Guard units from blue states to be more anti-Trump, as well. While in addition to the military, Trump has a lot of support from local law enforcement and ICE/Border Patrol.

[Broomstick]

This idea keeps popping up. But Trump manages to add in one detail that might be an original thought:

"They start forming off the coast of Africa, as they're moving across the Atlantic,

Yep. He manages to be racist even on this topic.

How is that racist? Atlantic hurricanes can start forming as far east as the Cape Verde Islands... which are off the coast of Africa. The storms originating that far east also tend to be the largest and strongest. That's not racism, it's meteorology.

[Eulogy]

Sure, the military siding with American Furher would be a BAD thing, but I doubt it'd be the sort of thing that would last all that long by itself. We are talking about a would-be dictator who thinks that nuking his own soil is a good idea, and those who support Trump aren't necessarily going to support whoever succeeds him.

[Lord Revan]

It should be noted that thought of nuking hurricanes to kill them isn't a new one, IIRC it was first proposed during Reagan's reign but was quickly shot down (excuse the pun) as unfeasible (if not outright impossible) to impliment.

[Solauren]

Now here is the real terrifying thought.

Trump learning that Hurricanes are more powerful then current Nuclear weapons so he goes

"okay, we need Hurricane machines, and much bigger nuclear weapons." And then ordering funding for that kind of research.
At that point, you officially have a Bond/1980s Cartoon Supervillian in the White House.

[The Romulan Republic]

Now here is the real terrifying thought.

Trump learning that Hurricanes are more powerful then current Nuclear weapons so he goes

"okay, we need Hurricane machines, and much bigger nuclear weapons." And then ordering funding for that kind of research.
At that point, you officially have a Bond/1980s Cartoon Supervillian in the White House.

I mean, we're already pretty much living in a world with Hydra in power and no Captain America.

[Solauren]

True. But in this case, Hydra doesn't realize it's Hydra, so it's just doing a really bad job of being Hydra.

However, Trump with a Hurricane machine, would then realize he's Hydra...

[wautd]

Never go full retard Trump