Trump announces US to start nuclear weapons testing

Donald Trump has had an amazing trip to Asia, announcing several bombshell deals.

He just made another announcement, and it is one that I don’t think anyone saw coming.

Trump announced that for the first time in more than three decades, the United States will begin testing nuclear weapons.

Why Nuclear Testing Was Ended

We have to go back to the Reagan presidency, which is when pressure first started to be applied to the United States to stop testing nuclear weapons.

In an effort to get the US to stop, Russia briefly suspended its program, but Reagan was not giving in.

When Clinton took office, he made this a top priority, and in 1993, the Hatfield-Exon-Mitchell Amendment was introduced. This called for a temporary suspension of testing and a complete end of all testing by 1996, but the stoppage was put in place before the deadline.

Clinton also led the effort to have the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) signed, which was put in place in September 1996, with an additional 65 countries signing on. There have only been a handful of countries to test nuclear weapons since then, with North Korea being the last.

Resume the Testing

We all know how Trump feels about existing treaties and resolutions, and I am not sure if he knows or cares about the CTBT.

To that point, Trump stated, "Because of the tremendous destructive power, I HATED to do it, but had no choice! Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years. Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately."

Trump was later asked bout possible environmental effects, and he responded, "I don’t think so. I think we have it pretty well locked up. But we have more than anybody, and I see them testing. I say, well, they’re testing, we have to test too. I’d like to see a deneutralization … because we have so many. Russia’s second and China’s third. China will catch up within four or five years. I think de-escalation, or denuclearization, would be tremendous. We’re actually talking to Russia about that, and China would be added to that if we do something."

Trump has his numbers mixed up, as Russia actually has more nuclear weapons than we do, but not by much. I would also note that Trump is throwing out some serious allegations about countries testing their weapons as justification for this, so I hope he has proof to back it up.

What Countries Currently Have Nuclear Weapons?

There are only nine countries in the entire world that currently have nuclear weapon capabilities.

Russia (5,400), the United States (5,100), China (600), France (290), the United Kingdom (225), India (180), Pakistan (170), Israel (90), and North Korea (50). Those numbers are all recent estimates.

We have seen the destruction that one bomb can do, so if everyone fires, we are talking the end of the world here.

I have yet to see a response to Trump’s call to testing, but I am going to guess that he will see significant resistance on both sides. Democrats will oppose him because Trump suggested it. And Republican fiscal hawks will block him because of the enormous costs of doing such testing and replacing the weapons in the arsenal. Money, simply put, that our country does not have to spend.