MSNBC host says Trump asked ‘why can’t the US use its nuclear weapons’ during security briefing
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough has said on ‘Morning Joe’ that Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump asked three times in one security briefing why the US can’t use its nuclear weapons.
“Several months ago, a foreign policy expert on the international level went to advise Donald Trump, and three times he asked about the use of nuclear weapons,” Scarborough said.
“Three times, he asked, at one point, ‘If we have them, why can’t we use them?’ That’s one of the reasons why he, he just doesn’t have foreign policy experts around him.”
Scarborough added: “Three times, in an hour briefing, ‘Why can’t we use nuclear weapons?’”
Speaking earlier this year, Trump made similar comments at a town hall hosted by MSNBC’s Chris Matthews.
Matthews expressed concern that foreign leaders are “hearing a guy running for president of the United States talking of maybe using nuclear weapons.”
He added: “Nobody wants to hear that about an American president.”
Trump had replied: “Then why are we making them? Why do we make them?”
Former National Security Agency Director Michael Hayden told Scarborough that the “timeframe” between Trump deciding to launch a nuclear weapon and it being launched is “scenario dependent”.
“But the system is designed for speed and decisiveness,” Hayden said. “It’s not designed to debate the decision.”
Watch the segment from MSNBC below:
Watch: What are some major concerns about Trump’s handling of national security? Hayden and #morningjoe weigh in. https://t.co/FyFoSmJlJI
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) August 3, 2016
Hillary Clinton, who has the endorsements of most leading LGBT groups in the US, has a broad manifesto of detailed LGBT rights policies. Donald Trump lists no specific pro-LGBT policies anywhere.
In recent months the presumptive Republican Presidential nominee has tacked heavily against LGBT rights – pledging to appoint justices to repeal equal marriage, coming out against federal anti-discrimination protections, and coming out in favour of anti-transgender laws after repeated flip-flopping.
Meanwhile he confirmed running mate would be Indiana Governor Mike Pence – who has signed a state law giving businesses the right to discriminate against gay people on the grounds of religion. Pence also proposed draining HIV prevention funding to fund ‘gay cure’ therapy.
