Any of us of a 'certain age' knows what our Nuclear Triad is- it has been the basis of our nuclear deterrence strategy since the 1960's- that the United States doesn't rely upon one method of delivering nukes- we can deliver them by bomber, by ICMB or by submarine fired ballistic missiles.
But Trump doesn't know. How the hell can any well informed person who even pretends to care about the defense of the United States not know this?
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/donald-trump-has-no-idea-what-americas-nuclear-triad-is-1748283463
Donald Trump, who claims to be the ābest on the militaryā among the 2016 Presidential candidates because he is the best at everything, apparently has no idea what the nuclear triad is. The revelation came during last nightās Presidential Debate when conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt asked Trump a question about the need to modernize our nuclear forces.
The exchange went as follows:
HEWITT: Mr. Trump... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. Itās an executive order. Itās a commander-in-chief decision.
Whatās your priority among our nuclear triad?
TRUMP: Well, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that Iām frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because youāre going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important.
But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out ā if we didnāt have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we canāt just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldnāt care. It was hand-to-hand combat.
The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what heās saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear ā nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. Thatās in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now.
From Trumpās response, itās clear that he either has no idea what the nuclear triad is, or that he had no idea what the question was and just decided to go with some sort of free-form jazz riff on the topic of āanything nuclear.ā But even after Hewitt threw Trump another clue, he replied with total gibberish.
HEWITT: Of the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him.
TRUMP: I think ā I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me.
Adding insult to bizarre injury, the exchange ended with Marco Rubio explaining the nuclear triad in detail.
HEWITT: Senator Rubio, do you have a response?
RUBIO: I do. First, letās explain to people at home who the triad ā what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people havenāt heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subsā ability to attack. And itās important ā all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence.
Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And thatās the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country.
BLITZER: Thank you, Senator Rubio.
But Trump doesn't know. How the hell can any well informed person who even pretends to care about the defense of the United States not know this?
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/donald-trump-has-no-idea-what-americas-nuclear-triad-is-1748283463
Donald Trump, who claims to be the ābest on the militaryā among the 2016 Presidential candidates because he is the best at everything, apparently has no idea what the nuclear triad is. The revelation came during last nightās Presidential Debate when conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt asked Trump a question about the need to modernize our nuclear forces.
The exchange went as follows:
HEWITT: Mr. Trump... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. Itās an executive order. Itās a commander-in-chief decision.
Whatās your priority among our nuclear triad?
TRUMP: Well, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that Iām frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because youāre going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important.
But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out ā if we didnāt have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we canāt just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldnāt care. It was hand-to-hand combat.
The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what heās saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear ā nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. Thatās in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now.
From Trumpās response, itās clear that he either has no idea what the nuclear triad is, or that he had no idea what the question was and just decided to go with some sort of free-form jazz riff on the topic of āanything nuclear.ā But even after Hewitt threw Trump another clue, he replied with total gibberish.
HEWITT: Of the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him.
TRUMP: I think ā I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me.
Adding insult to bizarre injury, the exchange ended with Marco Rubio explaining the nuclear triad in detail.
HEWITT: Senator Rubio, do you have a response?
RUBIO: I do. First, letās explain to people at home who the triad ā what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people havenāt heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subsā ability to attack. And itās important ā all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence.
Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And thatās the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country.
BLITZER: Thank you, Senator Rubio.
