![]() ![]() ![]() Nor can we know how a future president might behave if he or she becomes mentally ill while president. Even if his rhetoric is mostly harmless bombast, we cannot be so sure. Some thoughts to keep you up at nightĬan we really trust the future of the human race to the continued steady decisionmaking of single individuals who have the power to kill tens or hundreds of millions, based on a single unchallenged edict? The Donald Trump candidacy helps illustrate the problem. But any military officer ignoring a presidential order would be in open insubordination, subject to dismissal and court martial. They could choose not to, perhaps at the instruction of the secretary of defense or the four-star officer leading Strategic Command-who together constitute the chain of command between the president and the trigger-pullers. Physically, military personnel would need to carry out the strike of course. In short: A president could push the button all by himself or herself, legally- and constitutionally-speaking. Even if a president had obtained congressional approval for a war that began using only conventional weapons, no provisions of the War Powers Act would require subsequent congressional action prior to nuclear escalation. In any event, a nuclear war could easily devastate the planet within just days or hours-long before the 60-day stipulation would be binding. But most presidents consider that act unconstitutional. To be sure, a president is required by the War Powers Act of 1973 to seek congressional approval for any military action within 60 days of its inception. Because it looks like humankind will be stuck with the nuclear bomb for many decades (if not centuries) to come, moreover, the solution to this problem cannot be simply to get rid of all existing nuclear arsenals. The odds are low, but we should seek to make them even lower, given the stakes at hand. Someday, the United States really could have a mentally ill president who chose to do the unthinkable. Whether we really think any of the candidates for president in 2016 would cavalierly start a nuclear war, the bombastic and bizarre character of much of this year’s electoral debate should make us take this question seriously. The president of the United States can, in theory, launch nuclear war by personal decision-without any checks or balances. ![]()
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