 |
 |
Trump's finger on the trigger
| December 15th, 2015 at 2:19:03 PM permalink | |
| Canyonero Member since: Oct 31, 2015 Threads: 10 Posts: 83 | Hypothetical question: Donald Trump becomes president. He secretly orders a "preemptive" nuclear strike against Tehran. Do you believe the military would carry out that order or would there be a coup? |
| December 15th, 2015 at 2:46:09 PM permalink | |
| AZDuffman Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 137 Posts: 21195 |
They would carry out the order. Of course for this to happen there would need to be a serious escalation from Iran. Same thing if Hillary ordered one, BTW. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength |
| December 15th, 2015 at 3:02:42 PM permalink | |
| rxwine Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 217 Posts: 22942 |
If a leader (anywhere) not just in the US goes off in a really extreme direction especially as serious as launching a nuclear strike., there is likely to be some sort of breakdown one way or the other. This is assuming there is not continuing escalation where people are expecting war. It's the premise of a mutiny on a ship generally. It causes a breakdown of order. If you're wondering which candidate seems most likely to generate such a condition, I think you picked the right one. "Trumpsplain (def.) explaining absolute nonsense said by TRUMP. |
| December 15th, 2015 at 3:16:07 PM permalink | |
| Nareed Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 346 Posts: 12545 | I think there are safeguards in place, and the president can't just order a strike. The order needs to be confirmed by one of a select group of cabinet or executive appointed officials (ie, the Secretary of Labor can't confirm it). The bad news is Trump would name them all <roll-eyes>. In the case of response to an attack, the circle of people who can confirm the order includes also military officials, like the Joint Chiefs and other highly placed commanders, like the head of NORAD. Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER |
| December 15th, 2015 at 3:48:45 PM permalink | |
| TheCesspit Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 23 Posts: 1929 |
Pretty much this. If Trump came in, and first thing he did was 'hey, lets nuke Tehran, do it now', I think the military would have questions first. Even if his entire cabinet agreed. I can't imagine a situation where the entire cabinet thought an outright nuclear strike was advisable with little debate or provocation. Trump may be full of piss, vinegar, pomposity and self-importance. He's not a mad man. I don't think one can 'secretly' order a nuclear strike without a whole bunch of people knowing, and being able to stop the 'mad man in the white house' scenario. It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die.... it's called Life |
| December 15th, 2015 at 4:07:01 PM permalink | |
| AZDuffman Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 137 Posts: 21195 |
I would assume most if not all of us here are old enough to remember the 1980s and when we imagined there was a "red button" on the POTUS desk that he could just press. SNL had a gag once where Eddie Murphy hit it while pretending to be an elected Jesse Jackson. We probably imagined there was some sort of safety cover so that POTUS did not hit it by accident when calling for his secretary to bring some coffee. If a POTUS were going mad and decided just to launch nukes I would be fairly certain that they would be forcibly put to bed and Veep and the chain of command take over. Would of course require a call to the Speaker and Pro Tem of the Senate plus the Cabinent, but it would happen. OTOH, JFK would have easily been able to say "LAUNCH" during the Cuban Missile Crisis and no hesitation as we were at DefCon 2 already. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength |
| December 15th, 2015 at 4:46:11 PM permalink | |
| petroglyph Member since: Aug 3, 2014 Threads: 25 Posts: 6227 | This guy had some stones, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Arkhipov Also this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov The last official act of any government is to loot the treasury. GW |
| December 15th, 2015 at 4:49:07 PM permalink | |
| pew Member since: Jan 8, 2013 Threads: 4 Posts: 1232 | Trumps playing the sheeple like a fiddle. He knows exactly what he's doing and he's damn good at it. Nobody is starting threads about any of the other knuckleheads are they. The man's a genius. |
| December 15th, 2015 at 5:46:31 PM permalink | |
| rxwine Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 217 Posts: 22942 | You also have to consider that the more roadblocks to launch works the opposite if another country launches a first strike. So, it's fine to think there is all this failsafe and intervening parties. How many minutes do you think they plan for with strategically placed sub attacks from Russia? It's barely enough time to get out of bathroom at the beginning of a wiz. Imagine being waken from REM sleep, you'd have to add that in. "Trumpsplain (def.) explaining absolute nonsense said by TRUMP. |
| December 15th, 2015 at 11:16:42 PM permalink | |
| Pacomartin Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 1068 Posts: 12569 |
The president's review of options is part of public record. SECDEF must confirm launch. I think the odds of a truly "pre-emptive" nuclear strike would be difficult to confirm. The SECDEF is not a presidential appointment and may even be an opposite party. List of SECDEF under President Obama. Rep) Robert M. Gates Texas December 18, 2006 July 1, 2011 764 days under Bush 879 Obama Dem) Leon Panetta Leon Panetta California July 1, 2011 February 27, 2013 608 Rep) Chuck Hagel Chuck Hagel Nebraska February 27, 2013 February 17, 2015 720 Dem) Ashton Carter Ashton Carter Massachusetts February 17, 2015 Incumbent 302 |