Donald Trump, the President of the United States, said on Thursday that he has told the executive branch to start testing the country’s nuclear weapons right away. The President says that the order is a response to recent nuclear weapons testing by Russia and other unnamed countries.
Trump acknowledged the decision and stated why he made it in a post on his social media site, Truth Social:
“The US has more nuclear weapons than any other country.” During my first term in government, we did this, which included completely updating and renovating the armaments we already had. I hated doing it since it was so powerful, but I had to! China is a long way behind Russia in second place. In five years, China will be in second place. I told the Department of War to start testing our nuclear weapons on the same level as other countries’ testing programs. That process will start right now. Thanks for taking the time to look into this!
Reasons for Starting Tests Again
President Trump said he didn’t want to start nuclear testing again since the bombs have “tremendous destructive power,” but he said he had “no choice.”
His choice is clearly based on what he thinks rival world powers are doing and what they are capable of:
Russia is known to have the second biggest stockpile of nuclear weapons.
China is called a “distant third,” but experts say it will be “even within 5 years.”
The President said that during his first term in office, the US nuclear weapons stockpile had already been “completely updated and renovated.” He has now told the Department of War (the old name for the Department of Defense) to start testing U.S. nuclear weapons “on an equal basis,” using the testing programs of other countries as examples.