While it is a pretty argument, I doubt if many practice it in reality. Do you judge Germany based on Merkel? Do you judge the UK based on the royal family? What about Russia with Putin? I agree that Trump is a poor example of Americans, but to judge a whole country, especially a county that is divided over their leader, is not very logical.
Openly advocating the use of atomic weapons for short term political gain, or for controlling hurricanes, is not contributing toward more stability in the world.
While I don't disagree with your post, there's something I've been forced to ask myself in recent years: "On what evidence do you base your assumption that people are logical?" Trump certainly doesn't demonstrate logical thinking very often. I see no evidence of logical thinking on the part of his supporters--just unbridled emotionalism. American politics over the past decade or more has badly eroded my own confidence in the rational thinking of my fellow Americans, with the election of Trump being the most recent example.
President Trump. It was announced on Morning Joe this morning (Aug 26), that Trump has had serious discussions inside the White House where he advocated the use of atomic bombs to disrupt hurricanes forming in the Atlantic Ocean before they make landfall in the U.S. That's about as close to insanity as any idea I've ever heard from any President.
It has been my experience that people to feel the beliefs of others as a whole are not logical, it is because they have refused to listen to the opinions of others. There are many things that Trump has done or has tried to do that I agree with 100%. While I might not like his methods, I agree on the issues. Not everything, but many. I did not vote for him in 2016 and I have not yet decided if I will vote for him in 2020. Given the options, he might get my vote.
It was reported by Axious...a very left leaning source....who was paraphrasing (their words) from an "unnamed sources" that can not be verified by other news agencies. It does not surprise me that "Morning Joe" is repeating this unverified accusation. It also does not surprise me that some people hear something and automatically believe it to be true....and then repeat it as being factual. I'm not saying Trump did not say it, but I need a little more than "unnamed sources" before I buy the story hook, line, and sinker.
Especially from sources that lied for years about the collusion delusion and have little credibility.
Not the first time someone has brought up using a nuke to break up a hurricane. The first was the Edward Teller aka 'the father of the hydrogen bomb.' This was during the 1990's and the problem was there was a treaty signed that forbid the nuclear powers in the world from testing nukes in the atmosphere. It's been awhile since we had someone in the White House thinking outside the box and asking tough questions.
That you don't see the logic doesn't mean it's illogical. He has facts unavailable to us, understands the participants, and often negotiates publicly through flattery, despite those on the other side being clearly undeserving. It's push-pull and we shouldn't look at the short term, or snapshot, if we want to realize the ultimate goal.
That's fine. I agree it's important to have the facts confirmed. However, I do remember hearing Trump say during the 2016 campaign, "since we've spent the money to build atomic bombs, why can't we use them?" Having someone so poorly informed as to ask such a disturbing question, elected to the White House, is just plain scary.
If you heard Trump say that, I would say you mis-heard it or bought into something somebody said he said. Here is an article from 2016 and the things he said about using nukes: https://time.com/4437089/donald-trump-nuclear-weapons-nukes/ If you have a source of him saying this, I would like to see it.
Then Teller joins Trump in a small but growing group of leaders we can comfortably regard as totally insane. The treaty forbidding the testing of nuclear weapons in our atmosphere was passed for a reason. But it's not the only reason this is such a bad idea. If you explode nuclear weapons in the ocean to disrupt temporary hurricanes, you: 1. Kill many sea animals, fishes, etc who happen to be at the location where you explode the bomb. 2. You irradiate the ocean where the bomb explodes, & the life that lives there but survives. 3. You make the area where the explosions happen, toxic to future human seafaring use even passage. 4. You pollute the air from the hurricane that will then carry that radiation & toxicity to the U.S. & drench Americans with it during rainstorms, poisoning them & the landscapes where they live. 5. Over time, with repetition, you increase the radiation poisoning & toxicity in the air as a whole, affecting all human & animal & plant life on the planet as that air circulates. What could you possibly gain using this such a stupid, idiotic plan, when you consider the massive death & destruction you'd cause in the process? This is NOT a tough question.
There is no reason to be afraid. The message was not directed at you but instead to those who would do Americans harm, to give them something to consider. It's to keep them off balance, not you.
Neither Trump nor his supporters are rational in their thinking. Trump is completely irrational, & makes all his decisions based on how he thinks the outcome will help or hurt him personally, without any regard whatsoever for how it might affect the country he supposedly leads. Trump offers nothing positive or worthy of my vote.
I watched him on a video played on the evening news, saying exactly those words. I remember being so shocked, I turned to my wife sitting near me & asked, "Did you hear that?" She responded in the affirmative, & was just as shocked as I was. I have no idea how to find that video, but it exists.
But I had a friend who while serving with the U.S. Navy observed the French detonating a nuke in the South Pacific and he said the event was "awesome" and definitely an "E ticket."
It's a horrible way to carry on a relationship with our fellow nations. Why do we have to have a President who always works from the lowest possible denominator? Why do we have to have a President who trusts no one & is incapable of humanitarian values? Do you think he really represents American values? If so, which ones?
I've personally known more than one civilian who used to sit out on their home porch & watch the atomic test explosions in Nevada in the distance. They thought it was pretty too, but they died later of cancer caused by irradiated fallout from those blasts. Atomic weapons haven't been used for a very good reason. Their impacts last far longer than the current need, & their damage & toxicity continues across decades.
Which 'fellow nations' are you referring to? They're certainly not all the same. And I don't know where you get the idea that 'he trusts no one'. What evidence do you have of that? What evidence do you have that he is 'incapable of 'humanitarian values'? All of these are strange assumptions on your part. Perhaps it's too much morning Joe.
Lessons learned. On November 20, 1943 the bloodiest battle for America at that time during WW ll was the Battle for Tarawa with 3,797 American casualties in less than 72 hours. (1,696 KIA, 2.101 WIA) When the American homefront heard about the death toll at Tarawa they didn't take to the streets yelling "Hey hey RFD how many kids did you kill today" !!! But instead flooded the FDR White House with tens of thousands of letters. But the lessons learned at Tarawa with the lost of 1,109 Marines and 587 U.S. sailors and coastguard men would save the lives of tens of thousands of American Marines and soldiers during future amphibious assaults during the war.
1. I saw Trump on a video very recently, where he said, " I don't trust anyone." I remember thinking when I heard that, how that remark explained so many of his behaviors as President, along with his constant attacks on everyone around him who disagreed with him, or the media. In that video, he was discussing how he was confused by how anyone could trust anyone. It was bizarre. But bizarre is an apt descriptor for this very strange President. 2. Keep in mind that Morning Joe was a conservative Republican Congressman for several years, & remains a conservative philosophically today. I'm a liberal, & disagree with much of what Joe says. But on Trump, we're in complete agreement.
That was during a long, drawn-out, vicious war. Today, we have no major war that requires that kind of extreme measure. We should never be the first to use atomic weapons again, & hopefully, they will never be used again by anyone. Overall, we should be smart enough to stop using war as a tool altogether. I keep hoping.