After Trump Asks Why US Can’t Use Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Launch Officer Warns ‘Buckle the Hell Up’

Former Minuteman III Launch Officer Worries if ‘Young Officers on Nuke Alert Right Now’ Will ‘Soon Answer to a Madman’

Donald Trump is under fire today for many issues, but one in particular has drawn the ire of the noted national security advisor to both the Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney presidential campaigns. MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough Wednesday morning cited a Trump foreign policy adviser who told him that during an hour-long briefing Trump asked him three times why the U.S. can’t use nuclear weapons.

“Several months ago, a foreign policy expert went to advise Donald Trump,” Scarborough told his guest, former CIA Director Michael Hayden. “And three times he asked about the use of nuclear weapons — three times he asked. At one point, ‘If we have them, why can’t we use them?’”

“That’s one of the reasons why he doesn’t have foreign policy experts around him,” Scarborough claimed.

While a Trump campaign spokesperson today was quick to deny Scarborough’s story, Trump’s comments lend it credibility.

Trump has suggested he might use nuclear weapons in Europe, and against ISIS, despite civilian casualties. And he has advocated for more – not less, but more – countries to get nuclear weapons including Japan, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia.

Enter John Noonan.

Noonan, a national security commentator and analyst, served as national security advisor to both Mitt Romney’s and Jeb Bush’s presidential campaigns. And he served as a as a Minuteman III nuclear launch officer in the United States Air Force’s Global Strike Command. 

To be clear, Noonan is not a fan of President Barack Obama’s nuclear disarmament efforts, and he is considered a war hawk by some on the left. 

Which make him the perfect person to listen to when he says Donald Trump is “dangerous” and a “madman,” and if he gets the nuclear launch codes we will all need to “buckle the hell up.”

Noonan took to Twitter Wednesday, after Scarborough’s stunning revelation (which has some wondering why he sat on that knowledge for months.)

On Twitter, conservatives like columnist John Podhoretz, and liberals like Keith Olbermann, not to mention many journalists, are urging everyone to read Noonan’s comments, so here they are. They should scare every person on the planet.

 

Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license