Dem Says Trump Exercising Nuclear Strike Authority ‘Should Scare You’; then people point out the obvious

Senator Ed MarkeyD-Mass., said people should be afraid that President-elect Donald Trump has the power to launch a nuclear attack.

In a post on X, Markey noted: “Starting in January, Donald Trump will have the sole authority to launch a nuclear attack. That should scare you. That’s why @RepTedLieu and I are urging @POTUS to put guardrails on the ‘presidential authority to initiate nuclear war’.

Trump, who defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 White House race by winning both the Electoral College and the popular vote, previously served as president from early 2017 to early 2021. And during the his tenure in the Oval Office, he never used nuclear weapons.

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He has also been outspoken about the massive danger posed by nuclear weapons.

“To me, we have a very significant threat — it’s called nuclear weapons,” Trump said earlier this year. “This is not army tanks going and shooting each other. This is the wipeout,” he said of the powerful weapons. “We have incredible stuff, so does Russia. China has a lot less, but it’s going to catch up,” said Trump, who called the problem the “single greatest threat to civilization.”

Josh Barnett, who lost in a Republican primary for an Arizona state Senate seat earlier this year, responded to Markey’s post by writing, “LOL he had the authority the last four years that was in charge.”

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Others made the point as well.

“Hey mate, he was president once,” declared Tom Gillis, who describes himself to X as a “former PGA tour player,” in response to the lawmaker’s post.

“He had the power before and he didn’t use it,” tweeted another individual, Shonathan Perrius.

In a letter to President Joe Biden Markey and Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., said during his waning tenure the commander in chief could “safeguard the system against Donald Trump or any future unstable president, and make it constitutional.”

“We urge you to announce that henceforth the policy of the United States will be that it will not launch a nuclear first strike without the express authorization of Congress. In a situation where the United States has already been attacked with nuclear weapons, the President would retain the option to respond unilaterally,” the two Democrats said in their letter to the president.

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Lawmakers have long advocated for the policy change, repeatedly pushing legislation on the issue.

“As co-authors of the Nuclear First Use Restriction Act, proposed legislation that would prohibit any US president from launching a nuclear first strike without prior authorization from Congress, we urge you, in the time remaining in office, that you change this unconstitutional policy.” they said in their letter to Biden.

“We first introduced this act during the Obama administration not as a partisan effort, but to clarify that current US policy, which gives the president sole authority to launch nuclear weapons without any input from Congress, is As Donald Trump prepares to return to the Oval Office, it is more important than ever to take the power to start a nuclear war out of the hands of a single individual and ensure that the role is respected and fulfilled. constitutional of Congress.” Markey and Lieu noted.