On a more serious and less trolly note, I bring up the nuclear war thing because I think people generally underestimate the effects of nuclear use and we have for decades been too comfortable in talking about it in the abstract. So, that point isn't about Trump. /1
There are people in real jobs in senior positions in government - ask anyone here on Twitter who's worked in DC - who really believe that limited nuclear exchanges are possible. My point is: We can't even social distance. Imagine radioactive debris in the air. /2
There is an entire nuclear weapons establishment - from strategy to production - that has a vested interest in rationalizing limited-use thinking, and I just don't think most citizens really think about what that means, even for areas that are not directly hit. /3
The part that *is* about Trump is that we have an outdated conception of instant-retaliation - necessary during the Cold War, and crazy now - that vests all authority in one man with no checks. We didn't think about it because we never faced having an unstable POTUS. /4
During the waning days of the Nixon administration, SECDEF put out the word that any "unusual" orders should get checked with him. This was un-Constitutional and we need something better. Trump's obvious instability has made us have to confront that question of reform, imo. /5x
