Joe Scarborough Defends Trump Nukes Remarks, Says Public Has Right To Know
While every day in the Age of Trump brings about a story that would have seemed over-the-top satire just a year ago, Wednesday did give us something that was altogether horrifying if true. During a segment on Morning Joe featuring former CIA Director Michael Hayden, co-host Joe Scarborough carefully released a little gossipy tidbit about GOP nominee Donald Trump’s attitude towards the use of nuclear weapons.
According to JoeScar, a respected foreign policy expert met with Trump several months ago to give him a briefing on national security and international affairs. As relayed by Scarborough, Trump asked the expert at least three times during the meeting why he couldn’t use nuclear weapons. The MSNBC host provided this info to piggy-back on Hayden’s assertion that no respected foreign policy pros that he knows what anything to do with Trump at this point.
As one would imagine, the Trump campaign hit back, claiming Scarborough’s info was all wrong. Campaign manager Paul Manafort told Fox News that Donald Trump never brought up the use of nuclear weapons in briefings. Of course, Fox anchor Jon Scott completely misrepresented Scarborough’s comments, saying that this occurred during the security briefings candidates get once they’ve secured their nominations. Joe pointed out it was during an informational briefing from a potential foreign policy adviser to the campaign.
On Thursday, Scarborough took to his Twitter account to defend his remarks. In doing so, the former Republican Congressman allied himself with an unlikely source — liberal online publication ThinkProgress. The site published a piece Thursday morning essentially validating Scarborough’s story as it pointed to nine times Trump has publicly said crazy-ass shit about the use of nuclear weapons. Joe linked to the story in a series of tweets.
Regarding Trump’s foreign policy briefing:
1. The conversation with source was on background, not for attribution. https://t.co/nETEZKGK0G
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) August 4, 2016
Regarding Trump’s foreign policy briefing:
2. As the article shows, Trump’s private comments mirror public ones. https://t.co/nETEZKGK0G
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) August 4, 2016
Regarding Trump’s foreign policy briefing:
3. You can believe Paul Manafort’s version of events or mine. https://t.co/nETEZKGK0G
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) August 4, 2016
4. I believed the public had a right to have the facts I had. Now they do. They can believe the info or dismiss it. https://t.co/nETEZKGK0G
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) August 4, 2016
Since we’ve been inundated with so much nuttery day in and day out when it comes to the Trump campaign, many have seemingly already forgotten that the former reality TV star turned Republican standard-bearer has said numerous times that he’d think about using nukes to settle disputes with other countries. The guy has noted that he needs to be unpredictable, that more countries should have nuclear arsenals and that maybe, just maybe, he might have to drop an atom bomb on Europe.
Just as Scarborough noted, what his anonymously sourced bit of info shows is that Trump’s private comments are the same as his public ones. There is no difference, despite what some Republicans have tried to tell themselves. What we see is what we get.
As a negotiating tactic, it could be brilliant… A scary ‘what if’ laying out there, as a prod in the direction of ‘do the deal my way’ that is what is wanted of Trump by his many supporters.
The problem becomes, what do you do if someone calls your bluff? What’s your back up plan? Do you escalate?
Hmmmm…. this is where people are afraid things will go… end result? not so good..
On the other hand, Trump’s position may just be, that he fears the other side will get their hands on nuclear weapons, and he knows, because they’ve shown us this, that they won’t hold back…
I’m pretty sure he just wants to hit them first. Pre-emptive strike….. problem is, if you don’t take out their weapons when you do that strike, they will hit back anyway. Escalation indeed.