Trump Seriously Suggested Nuking Hurricanes To Stop Them

[babylonsister]

https://www.politicususa.com/2019/08/25/trump-nuke-hurricanes.html

Posted on Sun, Aug 25th, 2019 by Jason Easley
Trump Seriously Suggested Nuking Hurricanes To Stop Them
Trump wants to stop hurricanes from hitting the United States by dropping nuclear bombs on them, and he has raised this plan on multiple occasions.


Jonathan Swan of Axios has the scoop:

President Trump has suggested multiple times to senior Homeland Security and national security officials that they explore using nuclear bombs to stop hurricanes from hitting the United States, according to sources who have heard the president’s private remarks and been briefed on a National Security Council memorandum that recorded those comments.

Behind the scenes: During one hurricane briefing at the White House, Trump said, “I got it. I got it. Why don’t we nuke them?” according to one source who was there. “They start forming off the coast of Africa, as they’re moving across the Atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can’t we do that?” the source added, paraphrasing the president’s remarks.

….

Trump also raised the idea in another conversation with a senior administration official. A 2017 NSC memo describes that second conversation, in which Trump asked whether the administration should bomb hurricanes to stop them from hitting the homeland.

One tries to refrain on commenting on the president’s intellect, but Trump’s lack of knowledge is scary on multiple levels. First, Trump appears not to know what a hurricane is. Secondly, the president is very willing to use nuclear bombs. It is unclear if Trump doesn’t understand that dropping a nuclear bomb on hurricane will kill lots of people and possibly destroy an entire part of the Earth, or if he doesn’t care.

There are so many unanswered questions. What does Trump think happens to the bombs? Why does Trump think that a weather system can be blown up?

Congress needs to act and investigate this report, because if it is true, Donald Trump’s mental state is presenting a grave threat to the country and the world.

The cult within the White House will never invoke the 25th Amendment, but Congress needs to find out for the American people what is going on at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

[elleng]

1. 'Behind the scenes: During one hurricane briefing at the White House,

Trump said, "I got it. I got it. Why don't we nuke them?" according to one source who was there. "They start forming off the coast of Africa, as they're moving across the Atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can't we do that?" the source added, paraphrasing the president's remarks.

Asked how the briefer reacted, the source recalled he said something to the effect of, "Sir, we'll look into that."
Trump replied by asking incredulously how many hurricanes the U.S. could handle and reiterating his suggestion that the government intervene before they make landfall.

The briefer "was knocked back on his heels," the source in the room added. "You could hear a gnat fart in that meeting. People were astonished. After the meeting ended, we thought, 'What the f---? What do we do with this?'"'

https://www.axios.com/trump-nuclear-bombs-hurricanes-97231f38-2394-4120-a3fa-8c9cf0e3f51c.html

[area51]

11. "What do we do with this?"

Well, for starters, take away the nuclear football.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

18. K&R First, take away the problem, in a Trump fashion wear, straight-jacket!

[Volaris]

41. Inform his uneducated fatass that even a tropical depression contains more energy

Than a half dozen Fatman Warheads, and that his idea is the equalivant of 'shooting a BB gun at a freight train', and that with all due respect, mr president, you should shut the fuck up now before this particular tale of your ignorance leaks to the press.

SOMEBODY has to be willing to stand up to this nonsense from him.

[Eliot Rosewater]

27. Otis the drunk would be a more reliable prez

[madaboutharry]

2. There is something wrong with his brain.

[A HERETIC I AM]

3. "Why can't we do that?"

“Well, for starters, Mr. President, you are dumber than a bag of hammers, that’s why we can’t do it.”

[Takket]

4. Almost literally spitting into the wind

[mopinko]

5. just how blatantly cuckoo for cocoa puffs are they gonna let him get

before they take the codes away?

please god, may i live long enough for the tell alls to be written. i want my faith in humanity to be restored by finding out that they gave him phony codes on day 1.

[Initech]

6. And that's how the apocalypse started.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

44. yep. he's looking for an excuse to see a big mushroom cloud

The world might not survive this compensatory display.

[malaise]

7. No seriously

He is a fucking lunatic

[HipChick]

14. Saw that TS Dorian is sniffing round Barbados and heading to Florida

[malaise]

16. It will be a Tropical Storm for Bim, St Lucia

From NOAA
SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT:

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for...
* Barbados
* St. Lucia
* St. Vincent and the Grenadines

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for...
* Martinique

It's not expected to be more than Cat 1 and I'm not sure this will reach Florida - early days. I'll have a good look after DR, PR and Haiti.
I'm seeing a few tracks heading my way - we'll see.

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at5+shtml/233409.shtml?cone#contents

[lpbk2713]

8. He'll have second thoughts after the fallout hits Mar-a-Lago.

Most likely the half life wouldn't let him return there in his lifetime.

[magicarpet]

30. That is why he wants to nuke the hurricanes off the coast...

... of Africa. To protect his investments in Mar-a-Lago and also to have the nuke fallout hit the "shit" countries of Africa.

[brush]

33. He has so little understanding of things, like fallout and how much it spreads and how long it lasts

Not to mention what a nuke explosion and radioactivity would do to the fish and that part of the ocean.

He's too stupid to be in charge of anything but his little scamming, gouging, vendor-cheating business, and there are doubts about that since he always goes into bankruptcy.

The people on his staff wiil be shamed in history for not interceding and ridding the country of this incompetent boob.

[sakabatou]

9. *facepalm*

[Beartracks]

10. Hey, GOP: It's gotta be easier to have a normal conservative in office...

... than to keep propping up this ignorant buffoon.

But I guess he is the Republicans' useful idiot, after all.

=======

[912gdm]

12. well that's some early 60's thinking..

along the lines of project plowshare to use nukes to make a new Panama Canal and an Alaskan harbor.

The reason those projects never got off the ground is cause it was amazingly stupid, but some people had those ideas back then.

[Arger68]

13. The only thing better than a hurricane

Is a radioactive hurricane!

[Volaris]

42. You should sell THE FUCK out of that screenplay to SyFy Channel lol

[MustLoveBeagles]

15. He's a fucking lunatic

You know, his presidency isn't as bad as I thought it would be. It's actually so much worse.

[Bradical79]

17. It's not Trump being crazy...

Amd I find that disturbing in its own right. It's an idiotic 60+ year old idea that resurfaced from the depths of his rotting brain. That would be from his teen or pre-teen years, which is when I estimate his intellectual development peaked. I had no idea this was a thing (and still is!) until this article.

From the original Axios article:

The big picture: Trump didn't invent this idea. The notion that detonating a nuclear bomb over the eye of a hurricane could be used to counteract convection currents dates to the Eisenhower era, when it was floated by a government scientist.

The idea keeps resurfacing in the public even though scientists agree it won't work. The myth has been so persistent that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. government agency that predicts changes in weather and the oceans, published an online fact sheet for the public under the heading "Tropical Cyclone Myths Page."

The page states: "Apart from the fact that this might not even alter the storm, this approach neglects the problem that the released radioactive fallout would fairly quickly move with the tradewinds to affect land areas and cause devastating environmental problems. Needless to say, this is not a good idea."

[babylonsister]

21. He has no use for scientists so could be unaware

he's not the lone ranger here.

[Bradical79]

23. Maybe he saw the Nat Geo headline in passing

"Nuking Hurricanes: The Surprising History of a Really Bad Idea"

And remembered "Nuking Hurricanes", later thinking it was his idea. Kind of like how he will sometimes use a common saying he heard somewhere and claim to have invented it.

[Blue Owl]

19. Unfit. For. Duty.

And that's putting it mildly...

[Hoyt]

20. I'm sure using explosives, if not small nukes, has been explored before.

[ooky]

22. If nukes won't work, how 'bout a hurricane wall?

Build it high enough so the hurricane can't get over it. Make Africa pay for it.

[brush]

34. Don't don't! Please don't. That might get back to him and he'll start trying to strong arm...

Congress into doing it.

[Cicada]

24. One word: Sharknado.

[Volaris]

43. Only with nuclear sharks.

[nolabear]

46. Exactly.

[struggle4progress]

25. More evidence that America needs to keep crazy people away from weapons!

[Golden Raisin]

26. Hurricane force winds dispersing radioactive fallout

from a nuclear explosion. There's an idea!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. What could possibly go wrong?

[liberal N proud]

29. In his tiny brain, it makes sense

But then so does his war with China.

What a fucking moron

[Doodley]

31. The question is: How can Trump resist NOT using nuclear weapons before he leaves office?

It's going to happen, because it is the ultimate tool for the ultimate narcissist with access to that tool.

[lordsummerisle]

32. The Onion gives up

it can't compete with Trump...

[Docreed2003]

35. This is the Homer Simpson presidency

[Laffy Kat]

36. He's been itching to push the button even before he got in office.

We should all be terrified.

[iloveObama12]

37. Lord Help Us

[LiberalFighter]

38. Tell Trump the 35th Amendment requires Trump to be locked up in a mental institution.

Shhh don't tell him there isn't a 35th Amendment. It is secret.

[customerserviceguy]

39. I do remember reading

sometime back in the mid 1960's the idea that a nuclear bomb could disrupt a hurricane. It was in some sort of reference book, not some trashy tabloid newspaper article. It's possible that Trump read the same thing, and the notion has never left his craw.

A mushroom cloud would indeed be a source of heat that could goof with a forming storm, but of course, there's the mighty big problem of fallout.

[brewens]

40. I could see someone wondering that say back in 1946. There should have been a movie

where we try and nuke a hurricane and create some Godzilla like monster.

I would assume we've looked into about every scheme to create, wipe out, or reverse hurricanes somehow. I'd assume that there wouldn't be much point in nuking one even if it would work. No way you could keep doing that all the time.

[dalton99a]

45. Dr. Trump's prescription for global warming: Cool it down with nuclear

a nice long nuclear winter