He doesn’t drink, but Trump was in his cups last night.
There was this:
And the natural almost universal response was (to put it mildly)… “Is THIS your job?”
Then, THIS appeared on Fox News…
… and TWO MINUTES LATER, Trump takes to Twitter to tweet a nuclear threat, plus make veiled references to his dick:
The latter tweet has since been taken down, although not by Twitter it seems.
While a tweet is just a tweet, wars often can start by accident and/or false bravado. We don’t want this to happen via a nuclear war. In fact, to do so seems unhinged — which raised talk by commenters of the 25th Amendment.
In truth, there is no “button”. The process for launching a nuclear strike is secret and complex and involves the use of a nuclear ‘football,’ which is carried by a rotating group of military officers everywhere the president goes and is equipped with communication tools and a book with prepared war plans. If the president were to order a strike, he would identify himself to military officials at the Pentagon with codes unique to him. Those codes are recorded on a card known as the ‘biscuit’ that is carried by the president at all times. He would then transmit the launch order to the Pentagon and Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM, located at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Neb.)
But still….
Prior to Trump’s nuclear threat tweet, there WAS some good news:
North Korea and South Korea established contact on a hotline that’s been dormant for almost two years Wednesday, a major diplomatic breakthrough following a year of escalating hostility and a move that could pave the way for future talks.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gave the order to open the line at 3:00 p.m local time (1:30 a.m. ET), according to an announcement on state media in the hours before the two phone calls to the South took place.
According to South Korea’s Unification Ministry, the North Koreans made first contact at exactly the time ordered, and the sides were on the phone from 3:30 p.m. to 3:50 p.m. local time (South Korea is half an hour ahead of North Korea).
During the initial 20-minute connection, the two nations “checked technical issues of the communication line,” according to a statement from South Korea’s Unification Ministry.
The Unification Ministry said North Korea phoned for a second time several hours later on the Panmunjom hotline, suggesting the two sides wrap up business for the day.
“The North Korean side called our side at 6:07 p.m. (4.07 a.m. ET) and said ‘let’s call it a day today,'” the ministry confirmed.
There is also some talk of North Korea becoming part of the Winter Olympics in South Korea this year.