Letter to the Editor: Appalled by Trump

I am appalled, and frankly terrified, at the casual, ignorant way Mr. Trump talks about nuclear weapons.

He has urged several other nations to acquire nuclear weapons: Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and others, apparently unaware of decades of international treaties to limit nuclear proliferation.

Mr. Trump has said: “If we have them why not use them?” and, when asked, knew nothing of the Nuclear Triad that the U.S. and Russia both have to deploy nuclear warheads against each other.

We have co-existed in a hair-trigger nuclear standoff with Russia for over 50 years, where we have the ability to destroy each other hundreds of times over; we have literally thousands of nuclear warheads pointed at every city in both countries.

Modern nuclear weapons are hundreds of times more powerful than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs, and can be delivered in a matter of minutes by ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles), submarines, and air-launched cruise missiles.

A “nuclear exchange” is known by both nations by the acronym “MAD” (Mutually Assured Destruction). This has been the balance point for over half a century. It is obviously fragile.

The president has the authority to launch our missiles. He has six minutes or less to decide. Given the huge number of weapons, scientists have convinced both nation’s leaders that nuclear war could end all civilization. Accordingly, our last five presidents have worked with the Russians to mutually reduce nuclear weapons (SALT and START treaties).

Mr. Trump is ignorant of these stark realities and would “be unpredictable” in using any military power. Such reckless stupidity invites a Russian pre-emptive strike. We cannot give this unstable man the ability to destroy the world.

Ron Nelson

The Dalles