2min chapter

Making Sense with Sam Harris cover image

#231 — Crossing the Abyss

Making Sense with Sam Harris

CHAPTER

Is the Nuclear Football Not as Available to Trump as It Used to Be?

i think it's been reported that there was a phone call from nancy sy to someone in the panagon, trying to seek out some assurance that the nuclear football is not quite as available to trump. Riht: I would say, sam, that they are always thoughtful. You know, whenever you're going to use military power with something as extreme as launching nuclear weapons, they are going to be extraordinarily careful,. i don't think the danger of that is one of the higher risks right now.

00:00
Speaker 2
In recent days, theres been obvious concern around what trump may yet do in his remaining days in office. And i think it's been reported that there was a phone call from nancy sy to someone in the panagon, trying to seek out some assurance that the nuclear football is not quite as available to trump as it might have been during the rest of his time as president. I wonder this. This is the the moment that we ran into at the end of the nixon administration when, you know, he was drinking a lot. And i forget who it was, i might have been his secretary of state, someone said, if you get any calls from the president in the middle of the night about initiating a nuclear firs strike on anyone, come to me first. Riht, and i'm wondering what you think the posture is of the military in this last week of trump's term with respect to any orders that might come from the white house to engage anything of substance militarily. I
Speaker 1
would say, sam, that they are thoughtful. I would say, they are always thoughtful. You know, whenever you're going to use military power with something as extreme as launching nuclear weapons, they are going to be extraordinarily careful, as they always are. I think that the conversation between speaker of the house and the chairman of the joint chiefs was, no doubt, substantive, but it was also made public. And i think it was made public for a reason that people wanted to know that that conversation had occurred. And so i think that there is a always a concern for a decision, which might be made in haste or in anger by any leader. But i think that now we are close enough to the end of president trump's administration that people are more thoughtful than ever. And so maybe not donald trump, but certainly the people around him are more thoughtful than ever. So i don't think the danger of that is one of the higher risks right now.

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