As everyone should know, the President always has the nuclear launch “football” in close proximity. This is a biometrically-encrypted device that a military officer always has in his hand, ready to present to the President for immediate response in the event of an attack. It makes sense: The President would have only minutes to respond, and within that time he would have received validated imminent strike information from JCS and flag-ranking officers, to make an informed decision.
Now let’s be clear: Targets are driven by the military, in response to threat origination and other factors. The president doesn’t just open the suitcase, place his hand on a button and say “nuke Beijing” or “bomb Pelosi’s house and her ice cream freezer”. No – the president doesn’t get to go pick targets. He is informed, given options, makes a decision, and then authorizes use.
Now – Pelosi was on a bit of a tear about “Trump’s stability” with the codes – and those of us that have no clue what it really entails have lapped that rhetoric up. It’s ridiculous, frankly. This isn’t like a game of Battleship. But she went on the record, in briefings, to spout out scenarios that frankly aren’t true.
Fast forward to today: Almost three dozen United States Congressmen has signed a letter requesting that Joe Biden not have sole authority over the nuclear football. But here’s the part I’m falling out of my chair over: They are ALL democrats that are on the letter! All of them… I’m sorry – but I don’t support this. Joe is the commander-in-chief; he commands the military ultimately, not congress. And these decisions are informed. If you don’t want him to have the codes, then don’t elect him. Duh.
But the elephant in the room is *why* are they requesting this. This gets back to growing rumors – not sure if they are true or not – that Joe is mentally frail and declining. It’s already widely publicized that Kamala is handling way more calls, on her own, with overseas leaders than is normal. Joe is “putting a lid on the days” early, every day. His words are almost always scripted, he rarely takes questions (unless also scripted), and his one or two events (e.g., Town Hall last week) have been carefully crafted. He’s being managed by handlers. So now we have Congressmen from his own party wanting to limit his reach with the nuclear authorizations.
Now that this is out, and the rumors are growing, I can’t help but wonder what the rest of the world is thinking. No doubt an extensive profile on Harris has been created by every major country across the world, friend or foe. And strategies are being devised to test us. While several of us are all happy that we have a nice guy in the White house, and he’s more civil, he’s also opened doors for risk internationally that cannot be ignored because the “mean, uncivil guy” that was actually a deterrent is gone; I give you escalating events in the South China Sea, the aggression in the Persian Gulf, attack on Irbil, escalations with Turkey, new hostages taken in Iran, etc. All in the last 2.5 weeks. Buckle up.
