President-elect
Donald Trump has set Washington atwitter again with a cryptic and
seemingly unprompted pronouncement about the necessity to expand the
US' nuclear capabilities. “The United States must greatly
strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the
world comes to its senses regarding nukes,” Trump tweeted on
Thursday afternoon.
Earlier in
the day, the president-elect blasted the UN Security Council over an
“unfair” draft resolution regarding Israel and reiterated his
commitment to “draining the swamp” in Washington. He offered no
indication as to what might have prompted remarks about nuclear
weapons.
Thursday’s
tweet seems to diverge from Trump’s public position on nuclear
weapons that he expressed during the campaign. The billionaire
businessman campaigned on a platform of rebuilding the US military
while cutting taxes and reining in federal spending. He was critical
of outgoing President Barack Obama’s plan to modernize the US
“nuclear triad,” estimated to cost $1 trillion over the next 30
years.
“I
don't want more nuclear weapons,” Trump had told CNN’s
Anderson Cooper during a town hall in March. “We are not keeping
up with other countries,” Trump said during the first
presidential debate in September. “I would like everybody to end
it, just get rid of it. But I would certainly not do first strike.”
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