On Saturday, the entire state of Hawaii was gripped by fear as the possibility that the state would come under attack from an interest like the nuclear armed North Korea suddenly became seemingly real. The state’s emergency management service sent out an alert that proved to be false about a ballistic missile that was supposedly on its way to the islands.
State officials, including Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Sen. Brian Schatz, quickly moved to inform residents that the alert was in error, but not before untold numbers of people offered what they believed to be their final goodbyes to the world.
HAWAII – THIS IS A FALSE ALARM. THERE IS NO INCOMING MISSILE TO HAWAII. I HAVE CONFIRMED WITH OFFICIALS THERE IS NO INCOMING MISSILE. pic.twitter.com/DxfTXIDOQs
— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) January 13, 2018
The president did not rush to Twitter to address the incident, instead having apparently been out on the golf course throughout the whole ordeal. Trump has spent about one-fourth of his presidency on the golf course.
For 38 minutes American citizens in Hawaii braced for a ballistic missile strike … and @realDonaldTrump continued his round of golf in Florida on his 120th taxpayer funded vacation day in less than a year. https://t.co/tSSSNiDLDk
— Col. Morris Davis (@ColMorrisDavis) January 13, 2018
It’s not just this aspect of the situation that is problematic, however. As The New York Times points out in its response to the incident, the situation reveals yet again what’s so problematic about the entire Trump administration.
Trump has insisted time and time again that the U.S. nuclear arsenal should be increased.
Way back in December of 2016, when he was still technically just the president-elect, he posted a message to that effect on Twitter, writing:
‘The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.’
Concurrent to this, the president has relentlessly antagonized North Korea, which now claims to have the nuclear capabilities to strike the U.S. Trump has gone after the North Korean leader as if global politics is no more serious than reality television, calling him “Little Rocket Man” and threatening to completely destroy his country.
It’s in this that the editorial staff of The New York Times find grave danger. While the people of his very own country suffer under the threat of nuclear annihilation, instead of working to do away with that threat, Trump is pushing forward on expanding the United States’ nuclear arsenal, all the while maintaining the power to put the nuclear weapons that we do have into use.
As The Times put it:
‘Until Mr. Trump, no one could imagine the United States ever using a nuclear weapon again. America’s conventional military is more than strong enough to defend against most threats. But Mr. Trump has so shaken this orthodoxy that Congress has begun debating limits on his unilateral authority to launch nuclear weapons.’
The publication also noted that, as part of a nuclear weapons policy expected to be soon released by the White House, the Trump administration intends to not just move for increases in the size of our nuclear weapons arsenal but also for a relaxation of the restrictions on possible nuclear weapons uses by the U.S.
The paper’s editorial board wrote:
‘Expanding the instances when America might use nuclear weapons could also make it easier for other nuclear-armed countries to justify using their own arsenals against adversaries. As the residents of Hawaii can tell you, it’s a risk the world cannot afford.’
The paper is quite on point, but the president is undeterred in his flippant treatment of the possibility of nuclear war, having infamously recently mocked the size of the North Korean’s leader’s nuclear launch button.
Featured Image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images
