In December,??? ?? ???? Donald Trump warned that the biggest threat facing the United States was a crazy person armed with nuclear weapons.
"The biggest problem we have is nuclear--nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon," Trump said during a Republican presidential debate that month. "That is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now.”
SEE ALSO: Trump's favorite bands really don't like TrumpMany Americans may be inclined to agree with that statement, only a lot of them believe the madman close to obtaining a nuclear arsenal is Donald Trump.
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On Wednesday morning, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said that Trump had three times asked why the U.S. can't use nukes in an hour-long meeting with a foreign policy advisor.
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Many responded with great alarm.
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Scarborough didn't name his source, but Trump's alleged questions aren't much, if at all, different from things he has already uttered about nuclear weapons that suggest profound ignorance of, and disinterest in learning about, nuclear deterrence and the intricacies of the United States' arsenal.
Let's start with that debate in December. Trump's quote about a maniac and a madman seems coherent and logical, but that's largely because it's extracted from a much longer quote.
Trump was asked about America's aging nuclear arsenal, and whether he would prioritize upgrading our land-based, naval-based or air-based nuclear munitions. The candidate responded as though he had no idea what the question meant, had only heard the word "nuclear," or simply didn't care to answer.
He begins by saying the nation needs someone it can trust with his or her hands on the nuclear codes, then seems to let loose a jumble of half-baked thoughts:
"But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear," Trump said. "Nuclear changes the whole ballgame. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out – if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat."
After the question is asked again, he says, "I think, for me, nuclear is just the power. The devastation is very important to me."
And this is not the first time his response to a question about nuclear weapons was not only unclear, but also seemed bereft of coherent sentences.
Listen to his response to a question in April about Pakistan, a nuclear weapons nation whose ability to safeguard its arsenal is often questioned.
"Yes, but the problem with Pakistan, where they have nuclear weapons and, which is a real problem," Trump said. "Again, our, the single biggest problem we have is nuclear weapons, you know, countries with them. And it's not only a country, you have nine countries right now with nuclear weapons. But it's semi-unstable, and we don't want to see total instability. And it's not that much, relatively speaking. And we have a little bit of a good relationship. And I think I'd try and keep it. And it's very much against my grain to say that, but a country, and that's always the country, I think, you know, we give them money and we help them out, but if we don't, I think that would go on the other side of the ledger and that could really be a disaster."
His response is a dumpster storm of mangled letters, and yet perhaps no one paragraph has generated so many potential follow-up questions.
"It's not that much, relatively speaking." Relative to what? "I think I'd try to keep it." You think? "I think that would go on the other side of the ledger." What is on the other side of the ledger?
One month before this exchange, during a town hall with Chris Matthews of MSNBC, Trump made similar comments to what Scarborough claims the nominee said in that meeting.
"Look, nuclear should be off the table. But would there be a time when it could be used, possibly, possibly?" Trump said.
Matthews then says "nobody wants to hear" candidates for president talk about using nuclear weapons.
"Then why are we making them?" Trump asks. "Why do we make them?"
Soon after that comment, Matthews asks: "Can you tell the Middle East we're not using a nuclear weapon on anybody?"
"I would never say that," Trump said. "I would never take any of my cards off the table."
Then Matthews asks about using a nuclear weapon in Europe.
"I'm not going to take it off the table," Trump said.
The Scarborough comments are not the first time Trump's judgement regarding nuclear weapons has been questioned or ridiculed. Not that it appears to matter much to the Trump team. The campaign, later on Wednesday, denied what Scarborough said.
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