The logic of Trump resuming nuclear weapons testing

Donald Trump has exercised the nuclear option, sort of. Sitting somewhere in South Korea, the President launched a Truth Social post on the topic of nukes: “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.” Then he thanked the world for its attention and sallied into a meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping.

That timing isn’t coincidental. The Red Dragon has spent the last decade hoarding nuclear warheads – almost as if there were a second Cold War raging – and has been rather brazen about this fact. So too has Xi’s pouty neighbor to the north, Vladimir Putin. As Owen Matthews explains in the upcoming US edition of The Spectator, the Russian President keeps popping up on state television to flex his mad scientists’ novel nuclear technologies, including an ICBM nicknamed “Satan II.”

Those schoolmarms who still believe in international law reacted predictably, claiming that President Trump was exploding decades of peaceful restraint. They are especially concerned that he’s violating the New START treaty, America’s agreement with Russia that limits the number of warheads either country can keep in their back pocket.

But that treaty is in tatters. Russia called it quits in 2023. Neither country has let the other inspect any nuclear facility in years, and the agreement is set to expire in February, with no option for renewal. More importantly, China, the world’s most nuke-hungry state, has never been a part of this pact – or any other nuclear nonproliferation treaty, for that matter.

In this context, then, Trump is acting totally sane. His critics are the lunatics. One of two things can happen: either Putin and Xi see Trump’s threat and de-escalate – in which case we get peace – or they ignore him and continue their current nuclear trajectory – in which case it would certainly be good for Americans to know whether those nuclear-launch buttons actually work. It’s all very rational.

In his best moments, Trump is a peacenik. That’s why he penned love letters to Kim Jong-un. Unlike his predecessors, he’s interested in real peace, not just the appearance of it. That didn’t win him the Nobel Peace Prize, yet, but it could stave off atomic Armageddon for a few more years. Or not.