5 ms·

This scares me so much. A buffoon with his finger on the button.

philwelch 8y ago
If it comforts you, “the button” (the nuclear launch protocol doesn’t involve a literal button) requires confirmation from the Secretary of Defense, and the current Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, is one of the most reliable and trustworthy people you could even imagine to be in that position. And everything written about him in Woodward’s book only supports that impression. The DoD was even one of the more prominent examples of an executive agency choosing to buffer Trump’s impulses—when Trump announced a ban on transgendered people serving in the military (which was, according to Woodward, in response to a more nuanced discussion about whether the military should pay for or perform reassignment surgeries—Trump was in the discussion and hours later abruptly decided to tweet), DoD responded with a statement that they had received no Presidential order and that no policy change would be made until an order was received and a plan for implementation was devised. Another repeated theme in the book was the apparent fact that Trump just basically says things and makes decisions and then doesn’t consistently remember to follow up on them, meaning that offhand Trumpian pronouncements that nobody ever put into writing would go forgotten—at least until Trump was provoked into pressing the issue, perhaps by one of his more sycophantic aides. I actually feel just a tiny bit sorry for Trump. I have the increasing impression that he’s a deeply simple man being manipulated in competing directions by everyone around him. It’s an impression I’m very dubious of, because Republican presidents are routinely perceived as charismatic, naive simpletons being manipulated by conspiracies of sinister right-wing advisors. Both Reagan and W. Bush were suspected of this, but there’s considerable behind-the-scenes evidence to the contrary. I’d be interested in any other reports or memoirs from behind the scenes of the Trump administration, but so far it looks like Trump really is the real deal. The only difference is that the rise of Trump was enabled and precipitated by a complete fracturing of the Republican Party, and many different factions are all trying to pull Trump their way.
- skookumchuck 8y ago
  "Will no one rid me of this turbulent Priest?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_no_one_rid_me_of_this_turbulent_priest%3F https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_no_one_rid_me_of_this_tur...
  - brokenmachine 8y ago
    Very interesting!
- duxup 8y ago
  >I have the increasing impression that he’s a deeply simple man being manipulated in competing directions by everyone around him. He literally watches Fox News and tweets about it immediately afterward sometimes. He really seems to be that uninformed / scared / elderly person who doesn't know any better ..... with a lot of ego.
  - krapp 8y ago
    >He really seems to be that uninformed / scared / elderly person who doesn't know any better ..... with a lot of ego. No one would hire a surgeon who had never been to medical school, or a mechanic whose only knowledge about cars came from watching Top Gear, but for some reason we're willing to elect a President based primarily on his lack of expertise in (and disdain for) politics and the law.
    - dotancohen 8y ago
      Traditionally, it is said that the problem with politics is that it is full of politicians.
      - krapp 8y ago
        Sure, but cynicism is a double edged sword. Having Donald Trump is a solution to the problem of having a "politician" in charge, but now, as they say, America has n+ problems. Such as the likelihood that he trusts Fox News more than his own cabinet, or his calling out hits on people likely because he just assumes that's how government works.
- brokenmachine 8y ago
  > I actually feel just a tiny bit sorry for Trump. I have the increasing impression that he’s a deeply simple man being manipulated in competing directions by everyone around him. I agree with your assessment, but I feel sorry for the rest of the world more than the useful idiot. To be born with incredible privilege combined with such a lack of insight and a feeling of entitlement would not be the heaviest cross ever borne.
- avar 8y ago
  > If it comforts you, “the button” (the nuclear launch protocol doesn’t involve a literal button) requires confirmation from the Secretary of Defense, and the current Secretary of Defense, James Mattis. This is not how it works, the president has the sole authority to decide to launch a nuclear attack. Quoting from Wikipedia[1]. > This verification process [involving the Secretary of Defense] deals solely with verifying that the order came from the actual President. The Secretary of Defense has no veto power and must comply with the president's order. And from another article[2]: > If the Secretary of Defense does not concur, then the President may in his sole discretion fire the Secretary. The Secretary of Defense has legal authority to approve the order, but cannot veto it. That quote is paraphrasing e.g. this source in the New York Times[3]: > “There’s no veto once the president has ordered a strike,” said Franklin C. Miller, a nuclear specialist who held White House and Defense Department posts for 31 years before leaving government service in 2005. “The president and only the president has the authority to order the use of nuclear weapons.” Furthermore, the reference to the "button" (nuclear football) and the Secretary of Defense being involved is only a reference to the protocol around that specific launch system, but there's other methods of launching nuclear weapons available to the president, and which operate at his sole discretion. Here's what ex-Secretary of Defense Bill Perry said about it[4]: > “What is clear, is that the secretary of Defense does not have veto power on it. This is a decision of the president’s,” Perry told Politico’s “Off Message” podcast. > [...] > “The order can go directly from the president to the Strategic Air Command. The Defense secretary is not necessarily in that loop,” Perry said in the interview. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_football#Operation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_football#Operation 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Command_Authority https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Command_Authority 3. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/05/science/donald-trump-nuclear-codes.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/05/science/donald-trump-nucl... 4. https://thehill.com/homenews/news/360277-former-pentagon-chief-defense-secretary-couldnt-stop-trump-if-he-wants-nuclear https://thehill.com/homenews/news/360277-former-pentagon-chi...
  - philwelch 8y ago
    While there isn’t a formal SecDef veto, in a situation as extreme as “rogue president ordering nuclear launch for no good reason”, the “verification” step is still a non-trivial safeguard. There’s also no obligation for the military to obey an illegal order.

If it comforts you, “the button” (the nuclear launch protocol doesn’t involve a literal button) requires confirmation from the Secretary of Defense, and the current Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, is one of the most reliable and trustworthy people you could even imagine to be in that position. And everything written about him in Woodward’s book only supports that impression. The DoD was even one of the more prominent examples of an executive agency choosing to buffer Trump’s impulses—when Trump announced a ban on transgendered people serving in the military (which was, according to Woodward, in response to a more nuanced discussion about whether the military should pay for or perform reassignment surgeries—Trump was in the discussion and hours later abruptly decided to tweet), DoD responded with a statement that they had received no Presidential order and that no policy change would be made until an order was received and a plan for implementation was devised. Another repeated theme in the book was the apparent fact that Trump just basically says things and makes decisions and then doesn’t consistently remember to follow up on them, meaning that offhand Trumpian pronouncements that nobody ever put into writing would go forgotten—at least until Trump was provoked into pressing the issue, perhaps by one of his more sycophantic aides. I actually feel just a tiny bit sorry for Trump. I have the increasing impression that he’s a deeply simple man being manipulated in competing directions by everyone around him. It’s an impression I’m very dubious of, because Republican presidents are routinely perceived as charismatic, naive simpletons being manipulated by conspiracies of sinister right-wing advisors. Both Reagan and W. Bush were suspected of this, but there’s considerable behind-the-scenes evidence to the contrary. I’d be interested in any other reports or memoirs from behind the scenes of the Trump administration, but so far it looks like Trump really is the real deal. The only difference is that the rise of Trump was enabled and precipitated by a complete fracturing of the Republican Party, and many different factions are all trying to pull Trump their way.

skookumchuck 8y ago
"Will no one rid me of this turbulent Priest?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_no_one_rid_me_of_this_turbulent_priest%3F https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_no_one_rid_me_of_this_tur...
- brokenmachine 8y ago
  Very interesting!
duxup 8y ago
>I have the increasing impression that he’s a deeply simple man being manipulated in competing directions by everyone around him. He literally watches Fox News and tweets about it immediately afterward sometimes. He really seems to be that uninformed / scared / elderly person who doesn't know any better ..... with a lot of ego.
- krapp 8y ago
  >He really seems to be that uninformed / scared / elderly person who doesn't know any better ..... with a lot of ego. No one would hire a surgeon who had never been to medical school, or a mechanic whose only knowledge about cars came from watching Top Gear, but for some reason we're willing to elect a President based primarily on his lack of expertise in (and disdain for) politics and the law.
  - dotancohen 8y ago
    Traditionally, it is said that the problem with politics is that it is full of politicians.
    - krapp 8y ago
      Sure, but cynicism is a double edged sword. Having Donald Trump is a solution to the problem of having a "politician" in charge, but now, as they say, America has n+ problems. Such as the likelihood that he trusts Fox News more than his own cabinet, or his calling out hits on people likely because he just assumes that's how government works.
brokenmachine 8y ago
> I actually feel just a tiny bit sorry for Trump. I have the increasing impression that he’s a deeply simple man being manipulated in competing directions by everyone around him. I agree with your assessment, but I feel sorry for the rest of the world more than the useful idiot. To be born with incredible privilege combined with such a lack of insight and a feeling of entitlement would not be the heaviest cross ever borne.
avar 8y ago
> If it comforts you, “the button” (the nuclear launch protocol doesn’t involve a literal button) requires confirmation from the Secretary of Defense, and the current Secretary of Defense, James Mattis. This is not how it works, the president has the sole authority to decide to launch a nuclear attack. Quoting from Wikipedia[1]. > This verification process [involving the Secretary of Defense] deals solely with verifying that the order came from the actual President. The Secretary of Defense has no veto power and must comply with the president's order. And from another article[2]: > If the Secretary of Defense does not concur, then the President may in his sole discretion fire the Secretary. The Secretary of Defense has legal authority to approve the order, but cannot veto it. That quote is paraphrasing e.g. this source in the New York Times[3]: > “There’s no veto once the president has ordered a strike,” said Franklin C. Miller, a nuclear specialist who held White House and Defense Department posts for 31 years before leaving government service in 2005. “The president and only the president has the authority to order the use of nuclear weapons.” Furthermore, the reference to the "button" (nuclear football) and the Secretary of Defense being involved is only a reference to the protocol around that specific launch system, but there's other methods of launching nuclear weapons available to the president, and which operate at his sole discretion. Here's what ex-Secretary of Defense Bill Perry said about it[4]: > “What is clear, is that the secretary of Defense does not have veto power on it. This is a decision of the president’s,” Perry told Politico’s “Off Message” podcast. > [...] > “The order can go directly from the president to the Strategic Air Command. The Defense secretary is not necessarily in that loop,” Perry said in the interview. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_football#Operation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_football#Operation 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Command_Authority https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Command_Authority 3. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/05/science/donald-trump-nuclear-codes.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/05/science/donald-trump-nucl... 4. https://thehill.com/homenews/news/360277-former-pentagon-chief-defense-secretary-couldnt-stop-trump-if-he-wants-nuclear https://thehill.com/homenews/news/360277-former-pentagon-chi...
- philwelch 8y ago
  While there isn’t a formal SecDef veto, in a situation as extreme as “rogue president ordering nuclear launch for no good reason”, the “verification” step is still a non-trivial safeguard. There’s also no obligation for the military to obey an illegal order.