Nuclear security

Trump unwittingly exposes paradox of nuclear arms

US presidential hopeful Donald Trump’s remarks on nuclear weapons have brought him, at times, to a question: Why should he be constrained from ever using them?

The question has, like so many of Mr Trump’s comments, sent shock waves. But nuclear experts say it is shocking not just for the statements themselves, but for the uncomfortable truths they expose, perhaps unwittingly, about nuclear weapons.

In a March interview, Mr Trump asked, “Somebody hits us within ISIS, you wouldn’t fight back with a nuke?”

Then on Wednesday (Aug 3), Joe Scarborough, an MSNBC host, said an unidentified foreign policy adviser had told him that, in a briefing, Trump had asked three times, “If we have them, why can’t we use them?”