A wide array of national security and intelligence community experts is strongly criticizing President Donald Trump’s new nuclear policy, announced on his social media website, which effectively orders the U.S. Department of Defense to halt a 33-year-old ban on nuclear weapons testing and begin the process again.

“The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country,” Trump declared — wrongly, according to experts. “This was accomplished, including a complete update and renovation of existing weapons, during my First Term in office. Because of the tremendous destructive power, I HATED to do it, but had no choice!”

“Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years,” he continued, in the moments before meeting with China’s President Xi for the first time in six years. “Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP.”

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The Steady State, an organization of over 300 former U.S. national security professionals across the intelligence, defense, diplomacy, and homeland security fields, slammed President Trump’s remarks.

“Nuclear testing isn’t something you greenlight in a post,” they wrote, “but turning national security into a fear show is how authoritarians rule.”

Other experts also slammed the president.

Tom Nichols, professor emeritus of national-security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, where he taught for 25 years, is an expert on international security, nuclear weapons, and Russia.

At The Atlantic, Nichols wrote that Trump’s “reasoning is a bit confused: In the space of one short announcement, he managed to get a lot wrong, which is worrisome, because he’s the only person in America who has the authority to order the use of nuclear arms.”

Pointing to Trump’s post, Nichols explained, “Almost none of this is right.”

He wrote that Russia, not the U.S., has the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear weapons. And while China is third, Nichols appeared skeptical that they could reach parity with the U.S. in five years. Doing so would require 1,000 new nuclear warheads a year, when they have only constructed 100 in the past two years, he wrote.

“Also, the United States did not create some shiny new arsenal during Trump’s first term. It is true that America is about to spend a gigantic amount of money—roughly $1 trillion—to modernize its strategic nuclear arsenal, but that plan has been in the works since the Obama administration.”

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Professor of Political Science Michael McFaul, the former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, also condemned Trump’s order to restart testing of nuclear weapons.

“This makes absolutely no sense,” he wrote. “The only winner of renewed testing of nuclear weapons: China.”

The Washington Post’s lead global security analyst Josh Rogin, speaking on CNN overnight, said: “Trump’s brain probably thinks he’s acting tough, and then, by testing nuclear weapons, he’s showing American strength.”

He also noted that “the U.S. did sign a treaty to promise not to test nuclear weapons, and this would violate that, or at least abrogate that.”

Rogin added that “testing nuclear weapons has its own risks. Once we start testing, a lot of other people are gonna start testing.”

“But, you know, from Trump’s perspective, I’m sure, it means he thinks that, this is a real tough thing to do to really show the world that we’re not afraid to test our weapons, maybe we’re not afraid to use them.”

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Image via Reuters 

Senate Republican Majority Leader John Thune launched into a diatribe attacking Democrats when one — Sen. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico — asked unanimous consent to pass legislation to pay the 42 million Americans who use SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Later, Thune apologized — to reporters, not Senator Luján, for his remarks.

Despite having about $5 to $6 billion in emergency funds for SNAP, the Trump administration decided to reverse its previous policy to pay recipients during a shutdown. That policy, which was removed from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s website, had stated the “Congressional intent” was to make the funds available.

Experts have said there is a legal requirement to fund SNAP via its contingency reserves during the shutdown.

“Senate Republicans blocked legislation on Wednesday that would help low-income households afford groceries during the government shutdown, despite bipartisan support for providing nutrition aid to tens of millions of Americans,” Bloomberg News reported.

Punchbowl News’ Andrew Desiderio described Thune’s remarks as a “blowup,” and said he went “nuclear.”

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“The senator from New Mexico was absolutely right,” Leader Thune said on the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon. “SNAP recipients shouldn’t go without food.”

Republicans’ position is that Democrats are to blame for the shutdown, now in its 29th day. But polling shows that more Americans blame Republicans and President Trump for the shutdown than Democrats, whom they believe are trying to reopen the government more than Republicans.

“People should be getting paid in this country. And we’ve tried to do that 13 times. And you voted no, 13 times,” he said, pointing to Democrats who have refused to vote to reopen the federal government until Republicans agree to reinstate the Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire at the end of the year. Obamacare premiums are expected to skyrocket without the subsidies.

“This isn’t a political game,” Thune said, angrily. “These are real people’s lives that we’re talking about. And you all just figured that out?”

“29 days and, ‘Oh, there might be some consequences.’ There are people who are running out of money. Yeah, we’re 29 days in.”

“13 times, people over here voted to fund SNAP. 13 times, they voted to fund WIC,” he said of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.

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“My aching back,” Thune said, expressing frustration.

The Majority Leader then went on to charge that Democrats want the shutdown to continue, long term.

“So are they making plans to end the shutdown and reopen the government?” he asked. “Nope. They’re gonna propose a bill to fund food stamps during their shutdown.”

“This bill is a cynical attempt to provide political cover for Democrats to allow them to carry on their government shutdown for the long term.”

After his remarks, and after leaving the floor, Politico reported that Thune told reporters, “Sorry I channeled a little bit of anger there.”

THUNE: “SNAP recipients shouldn’t go without food, people should be getting paid in this country, and we’ve tried to do that 13 times — and you voted no 13 times. This isn’t a political game, these are real people’s lives that we’re talking about.” pic.twitter.com/8fBO1M7kuG

— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) October 29, 2025

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Andrew Cuomo, the Democrat running as an independent in the New York City mayoral race, is under fire for remarks he made in an interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo.

Describing the Democratic nominee, State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani, as “totally out of sync with New Yorkers” and “how New Yorkers feel,” Cuomo — who has been trailing by double-digits in most polls — told Bartiromo that Mamdani “is dual citizenship” and “was a citizen of Uganda.”

Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, and moved to New York City when he was seven.

“He just doesn’t understand the New York culture, the New York values, what 9/11 meant, what entrepreneurial growth means, opportunity means, why people came here,” Cuomo alleged.

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“Well, this is very important, because next year, we’ll be 25 years since 9/11, I believe,” Bartiromo told Cuomo. “And if he’s the mayor, how is he going to treat all of those people who are still in mourning, from losing their lives, 3,000 people?”

“I mean, all of the first responders that we lost on 9/11, I was there at the New York Stock Exchange,” she noted. “I guess I’m wondering if you’re expecting New York to look more like London? You go to London right now, and it is largely Muslim. Women are completely covered up. I don’t know if you expect, if Mamdani were to be in charge, him to change the look of New York as well.”

“Look,” said Cuomo, the former New York State governor who was forced to resign amid sexual harassment allegations and a damning report released by the Office of State Attorney General Letitia James, “he is out of sync with how New Yorkers feel.”

“I just think he doesn’t get it, you know?”

“His parents owned a mansion in Uganda,” Cuomo continued. “He spent a lot of time there. He just doesn’t understand the New York culture, the New York values, what 9/11 meant, what entrepreneurial growth means, opportunity means, why people came here.”

Critics blasted the former governor.

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“What an odious thing to say,” remarked author Rebecca Fishbein, who has written for The New York Times. “I hope New York Jews understand that the dual loyalty trope is used against them, too. If Cuomo feels comfortable attacking Mamdani in this way, what’s to stop him from turning on NY’s Jewish pop[ulation] when it stops being politically advantageous for him to support?”

“Politician who resigned last position in disgrace is desperate for comeback so using religious bigotry,” commented Brian Kaylor, author of “The Bible According to Christian Nationalists.”

“Cuomo and Bartiromo, two Italian Americans, repurposing the same type of xenophobia, bigotry, and religious prejudice that was used to discriminate against Italian Catholic immigrants,” observed Ron Cassie, a senior editor at Baltimore magazine.

“This is easily as racist as anything Trump has said,” noted attorney Noah Popp.

Historian Paul Cohen, a faculty member at The University of Toronto, wrote, “there is here no moral compass, no human substance, no political commitments, no attachment to virtue, no sense of character, no nagging voice of conscience … there is only the hunger for power, and the readiness to pay whatever price necessary to acquire it.”

So here’s Andrew Cuomo reacting to Maria Bartiromo wondering if Mamdani will “change the look of New York” and have Muslim women “completely covered up,” telling her that Mamdani “doesn’t understand New York culture” because he has “dual citizenship” and “he’s a citizen of Uganda.”

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— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona.bsky.social) October 29, 2025 at 11:50 AM

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