Donald Trump has ramped up the United States’ nuclear testing after ending a moratorium on it, all while somehow also calling for worldwide denuclearization. Trump was quoted as saying the U.S. has enough nukes “to blow up the world 150 times.”
While that’s far from comforting, Trump said he reinstated nuclear testing “Because you have to see how they work.” He was answering a question during a CBS interview aired on Sunday, when the comments were made.
“I’m saying that we’re going to test nuclear weapons like other countries do. We’re the only country that doesn’t test, and I don’t want to be the only country that doesn’t test.”
“Russia’s testing nuclear weapons,” Trump said in an attempt to defend his decision to resume testing. “And China’s testing them, too. You just don’t know about it.”
“You know, we’re a open society. We’re different. We talk about it. We have to talk about it, because otherwise you people are going to report — they don’t have reporters that going to be writing about it. We do. No, we’re going to test, because they test and others test,” he added. “And certainly North Korea’s been testing. Pakistan’s been testing.”
“We have more nuclear weapons than any other country. And I think we should do something about denuclearization,” Trump said. “We have enough nuclear weapons to blow up the world 150 times. Russia has a lot of nuclear weapons, and China will have a lot.”
Correspondent Norah O’Donnell sat down with Trump on Friday at his Mar-a-Lago estate for a 60 Minutes interview. There was a passing mention of the contentious history between the president and the network, plus numerous questions on the ongoing government shutdown, foreign policy, and some of Trump’s more controversial moves since retaking office in January.
Trump ribbed O’Donnell when referencing the settlement paid to him by the network’s parent company and took other jabs several times throughout the interview. “And actually, ’60 Minutes’ paid me a lot of money. And you don’t have to put this on, because I don’t want to embarrass you, and I’m sure you’re not — you have a great — I think you have a great, new leader, frankly, who’s the young woman that’s leading your whole enterprise is a great, from what I know,” Trump said, referencing recently appointed CBS Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss, as reported by The Hill.
Russia maintains that its recent testing of the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile and the Poseidon underwater drone did not involve any nuclear testing, accoridng to a report by RT. Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that Moscow would “act accordingly” if other nuclear powers resume testing.