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Radiolab did an episode recently[1] which disagrees with that Bloomberg article.

They interview ex-Secretary of Defense William Perry asking him what controls there are, if any, on a crazy president just willy-nilly deciding to nuke something.

He says there's absolutely none, even if the president is in a room full of people who vehemently disagree with him he alone makes the call to launch.

1. http://www.radiolab.org/story/nukes/



Yes yes, but...

The President can make the call to launch and everyone in the room can ignore him, arrest him, tape his mouth shut.

Or just shoot him.

Edit: fixed a word


Many people were morally opposed to nuking Japan in ww2 yet the president still went ahead and issued the order. Not sure what you expect from the military, they are formatted to follow orders.


Yeah, you'd think that if nothing else, our current governmental situation proves that all expected norms should now be discarded. If this dipshit can act this way w/o recompense, there's no reason that the rest of the chain of command should follow orders...


Nuttiness. This is the same President the MSM declared had "finally become President" after he bombed a Syrian air base following a (hoaxed?) chemical attack. Then got attacked endlessly by the MSM for not continuing to bomb Syria and for deescalating the military-industrial "WWIII with Russia so we can all make a lot of money" campaign.

There's an argument to be made for checks on presidential power to wage nuclear war at a pin drop. President Trump pulling us back from the joint establishment Democrat and establishment Republican push for worldwide nuclear armageddon is not it.


It's pretty generous to assume that will happen. It might, but it's far from a certainty.


the Gov has a vested interest in other Govs believing that the president's button can do a thing. i'm not sure who to trust...

but I did learn the word "Verisimilitude" the other day.


Ex secretary isn't really part of "The Gov" anymore.




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