What's standing between Donald Trump and nuclear war?

[rug]

The main barriers to using nuclear weapons are psychological, not legal

by Rachel Becker Dec 11, 2016, 9:01am EST

When President-elect Donald Trump officially becomes the president of the United States in January, he will take complete control of America’s nuclear arsenal. Should he decide to start a nuclear war, there are no legal safeguards to stop him. Instead, a much less tangible web of norms, taboos, and fears has reined in US presidents since World War II. But as North Korea escalates its nuclear weapons tests and the president-elect of the United States openly contemplates using nukes, experts worry that this fragile web could start to tear.

During his campaign, Trump called nuclear proliferation the “biggest problem” in the world. But he also said that Japan and South Korea might want to get nukes of their own. He wouldn’t take nuking ISIS, or even Europe, off the table. But he’s also characterized himself as “highly, highly, highly, highly unlikely” to ever use nuclear weapons. This calculated ambiguity isn’t unusual for America’s presidents. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush left nuclear first strikes on the table, too.

But for a US president to talk so openly and frequently about using nuclear force is a clear break with history, says Frank Sauer, an international security researcher at the Bundeswehr University Munich and author of the book Atomic Anxiety: Deterrence, Taboo and the Non-Use of U.S. Nuclear Weapons. And it could be potently destabilizing in a world where nations’ nuclear doctrines are shaped more by posture than by policy.

Despite a few close calls, nuclear warheads haven’t been used in armed conflict for more than 70 years. But there’s controversy over the reason why. Robert McNamara, the US secretary of defense during the Cuban Missile Crisis, put it down to pure luck.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/11/13903336/donald-trump-nukes-nuclear-weapons-proliferation-legal-psychological-barriers

[annabanana]

1. convention

That's it. That's all.

The scariest thing about this person is that he doesn't know or understand the concept of "mutually assured destruction". And we know he isn't interested at all in learning things that run counter to his preconceived notions..

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. Bad for his business ? That's the only thing.

[Jean-Jacques Roussea]

3. his understanding of nukes is directly derived from Mad Max

And for some reason he thinks he'd be Mel Gibson post-apocalypse (when he's more likely to be Master-Blaster with Kellyanne as the Master to his Blaster).