There is nothing more frightening than the thought of an enraged and desperate Donald Trump stewing over his Twitter ban and plotting revenge. Apparently, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is just as concerned about the idea as the rest of us, and took steps to ensure that the toddler-in-chief can’t retaliate in the most destructive way imaginable.
Pelosi to House Democrats:
“This morning, I spoke to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley to discuss available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike.”
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) January 8, 2021
Pelosi arrayed a call with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, who assured her that there is a process in place to prevent the president from doing anything rash that could result in even larger losses of life than the country has already experienced.
In a letter on Friday evening, Pelosi said:
‘This morning, I spoke to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley to discuss available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike,” Pelosi wrote in a letter. “The situation of this unhinged President could not be more dangerous, and we must do everything that we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced assault on our country and our democracy.’
Trump reportedly went 'ballistic' after Twitter banned his account.
MORE: https://t.co/jpMDd9Y53F pic.twitter.com/hUtExFuZMC
— Complex (@Complex) January 9, 2021
Meanwhile, Trump is said to be fairly fragile at the moment, desperate and lost without his Twitter account. The president was banned from the social media platform indefinitely, as well as on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and even Reddit. Any plans he had on using those platforms to foment more violence or to score big financially after leaving office are now shuttered, making him the least stable person in the world to have control of the nuclear football.
‘”The president is “ballistic,” a senior administration official said after Twitter permanently took down his account, citing the possibility that it would be used in the final 12 days of Trump’s presidency to incite violence. The official said Trump was “scrambling to figure out what his options are.”’
BREAKING: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has spoken to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff about preventing President Donald Trump from initiating military actions or a nuclear strike. https://t.co/fpGhCFIf9y
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 8, 2021
Despite her reassurances, however, military experts tell The Associated Press that there’s really not much any military leader or even the Joint Chief of the Staff can do if Trump decides to act. Milley, for instance, would not be a part of the decision-making around following the president’s orders for a nuclear strike.
‘Current and former defense officials have also insisted that the military does not blindly follow orders from the President, noting there are layers of checks and balances intended to safeguard against a President unlawfully ordering a nuclear strike.”
‘But the reality is that the only basis for interfering with a direct order is if it’s illegal, immoral or unethical. And there is a widely held belief among military commanders that they must resign if they are unable to carry out a legal order.
‘Some nuclear experts argue that there is little Milley could do to prevent Trump from ordering a nuclear launch, as he and other top national security officials are not technically in the chain of command when it comes to such decisions.’
Nancy Pelosi @SpeakerPelosi is doing the prudent thing in calling Joint Chiefs of Staff chair Milley to limit Trump’s access to nuclear codes. When Nixon was unstable in ‘74, SecDef Schlesinger & Gen. Al Haig intervened to limit Nixon’s military options.
— Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) January 8, 2021
