Factually! with Adam Conover What Nuclear War Would Actually Look Like with Annie Jacobsen
Jan 28, 2026
Annie Jacobsen, investigative journalist and author of Nuclear War: A Scenario, lays out how a nuclear exchange could actually play out. She covers launch timelines, sole presidential authority, missile detection limits, and why defenses would likely fail. She also discusses escalation dynamics, regional and global humanitarian fallout, and the political barriers to disarmament.
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Arsenals Remain Large And Ready
- The world still holds about 12,300 nuclear warheads and thousands are ready to launch within about a minute.
- Annie Jacobsen stresses that this hair-trigger posture makes nuclear war a present, not a historical, danger.
Public Pressure Enables Disarmament
- Informing the public matters because political pressure drove past disarmament successes.
- Jacobsen urges public awareness to recreate the pressure that led Reagan and Gorbachev to cut arsenals.
Sole Authority Exists Because Of Time
- The U.S. policy of sole presidential authority gives only the president the power to order nuclear strikes.
- Annie Jacobsen highlights this exists because missile warning timelines make consultation practically impossible.
