© 2024 Maine Public | Registered 501(c)(3) EIN: 22-3171529
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Scroll down to see all available streams.
RADIO SERVICE NOTE: Listeners may experience broadcast issues due to system upgrades.

Angus King Has Reservations About Putting Donald Trump in Charge of Nukes

U.S. Sen. Angus King is questioning whether Donald Trump has the right temperament to be in the charge of unleashing the country’s nuclear arsenal.

King appeared on the PBS television talk show “Charlie Rose” Wednesday night, where he said the assumed Republican presidential nominee seems “hot and impulsive.”

During an interview with host Al Hunt, King was asked about Trump’s statements on foreign policy. He went on to describe an epiphany he had aboard the so-called doomsday plane. The plane is a souped-up Boeing 747 that coordinates the deployment of nuclear weapons.

As a member of the Senate’s Strategic Forces Subcommittee, King was along for a simulated nuclear strike. And he says that’s when he thought of Donald Trump as a potential commander in chief, the person who could make the final decision to launch U.S. nukes.

“The thing that hit me almost viscerally was that, in that situation, there is only one person making the decisions,” King said. “There are no checks and balances. There is no Congress. There is no vice president, there’s no consultation. One person has about 20 minutes to decide the fate of civilization.”

An independent, King serves on the Senate’s armed services and intelligence committees. He receives briefings that many other members of Congress do not. And he told Hunt that he isn’t sure the real estate mogul and reality TV personality has the temperament to be in charge of the country’s nuclear arsenal.

“Well, the thing that bothers me — again I don’t know the man — I have never met him. But he seems hot, impulsive, the tweeting, you know, and he … you poke him and out comes a tweet in the middle of the night that’s brutal. It’s not measured,” he says.

King was not available for a follow-up interview. Neither was Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, who sits on the Senate’s Intelligence Committee.

Neither senator has officially endorsed their presidential preference. Collins has said that she has always supported past Republican nominees.

King is not the first to question Trump’s temperament, his qualifications for president or fitness to handle the nuclear codes. The Republican was been widely criticized for not knowing the nuclear triad — the ability to conduct attacks using airplanes, ground missiles or submarine missiles. Trump also hasn’t ruled out using tactical nukes against the Islamic State or Europe.

And he has suggested that Japan and Saudi Arabia should be allowed to have nuclear weapons — a statement running counter to decades of the U.S. policy of disarmament.

During an interview with the Washington Post editorial board, Trump gave a puzzling answer about the use of nuclear weapons.

“I don’t want to use — I don’t want to start the process of nuclear,” he said. “Remember, the one thing that everybody has said, I’m a counterpuncher. (Marco) Rubio hit me, (Bush) hit me.”

An editor reminded him that the question was about using nukes against the Islamic State. Trump then asked everyone in the room to introduce themselves.

“By the way, can I just do something? This is very good looking group of people. Can you just go around so I know who the hell I’m talking to?” he said.

The Trump campaign did not respond to request for comment or an interview.

Journalist Steve Mistler is Maine Public’s chief politics and government correspondent. He is based at the State House.