Trump Reportedly Bullish On Nuclear Expansion: ‘Let It Be An Arms Race’

US Republican Presidential hopeful Donald Trump attends a Tea Party rally against the international nuclear agreement with Iran outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, USA, September 9, 2015. Photo by Olivier Douliery/Sipa USA
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President-elect Donald Trump reportedly doubled down on his call Thursday to “greatly strengthen and expand” the United States’ nuclear capability.

In a conversation with NBC’s Mika Brzezinski, Trump reportedly said: “Let it be an arms race.”

Brzezinski shared Trump’s off-the-air remarks with viewers on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Friday after she said she spoke with Trump and asked him to clarify his tweet.

“Let it be an arms race,” Brzezinski said Trump had told her. ”We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all.”

On Thursday, Trump tweeted that America’s nuclear capabilities would be necessary until the world “came to its senses” on nuclear weapons:

As the The Guardian noted, Trump’s statement Thursday came after Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to “strengthen the military potential of strategic nuclear forces, especially with missile complexes that can reliably penetrate any existing and prospective missile defense systems.”

At a news conference Friday, Putin seemed undisturbed by the nuclear developments.

“Of course the U.S. has more missiles, submarines and aircraft carriers, but what we say is that we are stronger than any aggressor, and this is the case,” he said, according to the New York Times, adding: “As for Donald Trump, there is nothing new about it, during his election campaign he said the U.S. needs to bolster its nuclear capabilities and its armed forces in general.”

“It’s not us who have been speeding up the arms race,” he also said, according to AP.

Sean Spicer, Trump’s incoming White House press secretary, said that Trump’s comments were a “response” to other countries talking about bolstering their own nuclear capabilities.

“It was in response to a lot of countries. Russia, China and others are talking about expanding their nuclear capability,” he said on Fox News, according to the Associated Press.

“We’re not going to sit back and watch other nations threaten our safety,” he said on NBC’s “Today.”

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Notable Replies

  1. He’s going to get us all killed…

    Thanks “Heartland”

  2. Trump cannot stand to think he’s being disrespected. Knowing that, this morning’s news out of China, once he hears of it, will probably draw out some inflammatory anti-Chinese bullshit sure to rattle nerves in the markets and elsewhere:

    Dec. 23, 2016 6:27 a.m. ET

    SHANGHAI—China has slapped a 201 million yuan ($29 million) fine on a General Motors Co. joint venture for alleged monopolistic pricing behavior, the state-run China Central Television said Friday.

    Citing the Shanghai authority overseeing prices, the CCTV report said SAIC General Motors Corp. had reached a monopoly agreement with its dealers, setting a floor on prices of car models including the Cadillac SRX, Chevrolet Trax and Buick Excelle. The fine is equivalent to 4% of the affected models’ sales revenue in the previous year, according to the report.

    SAIC General Motors Corp. is a 50-50 joint venture between GM and SAIC Motor Corp., China’s largest auto maker by sales. Foreign auto companies are required to tie up with local companies to produce cars in China.

  3. You get the leadership you deserve.

  4. North Korea: We will open our Nuclear market worldwide. We will start selling WMD kits for DIY across the globe.

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