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‘How Authoritarians Rule’: National Security Experts Blast Trump’s New Nuclear ‘Fear Show’
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
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A conservative political operative turned commentator and journalist has a grassroots prescription for what she believes ails conservatism in the age of Trump — a “cure” for Trumpism.
Sarah Isgur worked on campaigns for Mitt Romney and Carly Fiorina, served as a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice, and is now an editor at The Dispatch, a conservative news site.
In an interview with The New York Times’ David Leonhardt, Isgur outlined some suggestions for everyday Americans who may identify as conservative — or who want to make changes.
READ MORE: Prominent Conservative Quits Heritage Over Tucker Defense as Trump Backs Carlson
Isgur “lays out her dream for a return to a small-government ethos and constrained presidential power,” which includes her belief that government can’t fix everything. She also believes there should be no independent federal agencies, like the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Federal Trade Commission, and Congress needs to take more control.
“It’s not that we’re always going to agree on everything,” Isgur added. “That’s never been the American way. My God, we’re connected by nothing — not race, not creed, not religion. This is what we do, though, is that we say we’re going to, first of all, have decisions made at the most local level so that the person making that decision is most responsive and most represents their own constituents.”
So, how does she think that happens?
Americans, she said, “have to look at what is tending to win these elections and the currents that we’re beating up against.”
When asked, “What advice would you give to people who are deeply dissatisfied with what our political system is delivering and want to do something that’s fundamentally patriotic, which is get involved?” Isgur offered a grassroots answer.
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“Stop reading political news,” she advised. “Put your phone down. Go talk to your neighbors, check out what they’re doing. Don’t talk about politics, just check on their health. How’s their mom? What are the kids up to? Do you have any cute kid videos to show me?”
She urged Americans to “be radically involved in your neighborhood and your community. And I really mean your smallest community — getting to know the other parents in your kids’ class.”
And, she said, “Vote in primaries.”
“Our elections are increasingly getting decided in primaries and that itself is bad. And the way to fix it is to vote in primaries.”
And register for the party that you want to influence, she suggested.
“I don’t understand people who refuse to register with the other party. It’s not a tattoo. You didn’t sign up for a new religion. Part of the problem is we think of politics as a religion. I’m just signing up in a primary to help pick who that candidate is going to be in the general election. That’s it. That’s the extent of what it means to register for a political party,” Isgur explained.
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Image via Reuters
The Heritage Foundation, billed as the “intellectual backbone” of the conservative movement, has just lost one of the nation’s most prominent conservatives: Princeton Professor Robert P. George. His departure came after the organization’s president, Kevin Roberts, publicly called Tucker Carlson a “close friend” of Heritage — even after the former Fox News host gave a platform to far-right extremist leader Nick Fuentes. The split lands at the same moment President Donald Trump extended support to Carlson, despite Carlson’s interview with Fuentes, who is widely seen as promoting Christian nationalism, white supremacy, racism, antisemitism, misogyny, and Islamophobia.
Professor George is a legal scholar who served as the chairman of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), which opposes same-sex marriage. He was once described as the “this country’s most influential conservative Christian thinker.”
“I have resigned from the board of the Heritage Foundation,” George wrote at the National Review on Monday. “I could not remain without a full retraction of the video released by Kevin Roberts, speaking for and in the name of Heritage, on October 30. Although Kevin publicly apologized for some of what he said in the video, he could not offer a full retraction of its content. So, we reached an impasse.”
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George urged Heritage to uphold “the moral principles of the Judeo-Christian tradition and the civic principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.”
“I pray that Heritage’s research and advocacy will be guided by the conviction that each and every member of the human family, irrespective of race, ethnicity, religion, or anything else, as a creature fashioned in the very image of God, is ‘created equal’ and ‘endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights.'”
Earlier this month, Professor George, also in the National Review, wrote about his opposition to President Roberts’ statement that Heritage has “no enemies to the right.”
The conservative movement, he wrote, “simply cannot include or accommodate white supremacists or racists of any type, antisemites, eugenicists, or others whose ideologies are incompatible with belief in the inherent and equal dignity of all. As a conservative, I say that there is no place for such people in our movement.”
On Sunday, President Donald Trump was asked about Tucker Carlson’s “friendly” interview with “antisemite” Nick Fuentes.
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“What role do you think Tucker Carlson should play in the Republican Party in the conservative movement going forward?” a reporter asked the president.
“Well, I found him to be good,” Trump said of Carlson. “I mean, he said good things about me over the years. And he’s, I think he’s good.”
“We’ve had some good interviews. I did an interview with him. We had 300 million hits. You know that,” Trump added.
The president added, “you can’t tell them who to interview. I mean, if he wants to interview Nick Fuentes — I don’t know much about him — but if he wants to do it, get the word out, let him — you know, people have to decide. Ultimately, people have to decide.”
The Washington Post on Monday described Trump’s remarks as “defending” Carlson.
SiriusXM host Dean Obeidallah said Trump’s call to “get the word out” was “deeply, deeply troubling.”
“When leaders are asked about antisemitism,” the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Monday wrote, “there’s only one responsible answer: denounce it. President Trump’s refusal to condemn Nick Fuentes — an avowed antisemite — or to call out Tucker Carlson for amplifying him is unacceptable and dangerous.”
Trump: We have had some great interviews with Tucker Carlson but you cannot tell them who to interview. If he wants to interview Nick Fuentes—I do not know much about him
Reporter: You were with Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago pic.twitter.com/ucKsMvmNdA
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 16, 2025
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Image via Reuters
As President Donald Trump faces potential pushback from House Republicans over his stance on the Epstein files, he has reversed course and urged members to vote for their release. But now the president is pushing back — hard — against further defections from his agenda and is demanding that Republicans maintain control of the U.S. House of Representatives “at all costs.”
In a sharply-worded post on his Truth Social website, President Trump demanded that states support his call for a rare mid-decade redistricting plan, his tool to try to pick up more GOP-held seats in the House.
Recently, Indiana Republicans acknowledged that they did not have the votes to support redistricting, leading Trump to unleash a threat on Monday.
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“I will be strongly endorsing against any State Senator or House member from the Great State of Indiana that votes against the Republican Party, and our Nation, by not allowing for Redistricting for Congressional seats in the United States House of Representatives as every other State in our Nation is doing,” Trump alleged. “Republican or Democrat.”
Not all states have decided to redistrict.
“Democrats are trying to steal our seats everywhere,” the president charged, “and we’re not going to let this happen! This all began with the Rigged Census. We must keep the Majority at all costs. Republicans must fight back!”
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The president did not detail specifically what some of those costs might entail. Trump was president in 2020 when the census was conducted.
Trump did speak with Indiana Republican Governor Mike Braun on Monday morning, the governor noted.
“I remain committed to standing with him on the critical issue of passing fair maps in Indiana to ensure the MAGA agenda is successful in Congress,” Braun wrote.
The redistricting push started when Trump urged Texas to redistrict, which he suggested would add five GOP seats for Republicans. California soon undertook plans to do the same, possibly diminishing or neutralizing any potential GOP pickups. But some election and polling experts have said that Hispanic voters are rapidly moving away from the GOP, which could backfire on Republicans in states like Texas.
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Trump to Rub Elbows With McDonald’s Owners in Push to Promote ‘Affordability’
‘Fight Back!’: Trump Demands GOP Keep the House ‘at All Costs’
A Conservative Serves Up a Grassroots Fix for Trumpism
Trump Aims Treason Allegation at His Former FBI Director in New Online Attack
Prominent Conservative Quits Heritage Over Tucker Defense as Trump Backs Carlson
A Conservative Serves Up a Grassroots Fix for Trumpism
Prominent Conservative Quits Heritage Over Tucker Defense as Trump Backs Carlson
‘Fight Back!’: Trump Demands GOP Keep the House ‘at All Costs’
Trump Aims Treason Allegation at His Former FBI Director in New Online Attack
Trump to Rub Elbows With McDonald’s Owners in Push to Promote ‘Affordability’
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