Fact-checking Donald Trump's misleading tweet about U.S.

New Post Public Reply Private Reply Replies (0) Message Board

Aug 10, 2017 at 7:22 PM 133

Quote:

Fact-checking Donald Trump's misleading tweet about U.S. nuclear arsenal

Trump combines a lack of historical knowledge about the nation's nuclear arsenal together with his gnawing insecurity and buries the needle on the 'full of shit meter', yet again. LOL!

By Louis Jacobson on Wednesday, August 9th, 2017 at 4:02 p.m.

"My first order as president was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before."
— Donald Trump on Wednesday, August 9th, 2017 in a tweet

One day after threatening North Korea with "fire and fury like the world has never seen" if it menaces the United States, President Donald Trump tweeted about the strength of U.S. nuclear weapons and improvements made on his watch.

Trump wrote at 4:56 a.m: "My first order as president was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before."

This tweet is not accurate.

A week after taking office, Trump issued a presidential memorandum on "rebuilding the U.S. Armed Forces."

One sentence in this memo directs the defense secretary to "initiate a new Nuclear Posture Review to ensure that the United States nuclear deterrent is modern, robust, flexible, resilient, ready, and appropriately tailored to deter 21st-century threats and reassure our allies." The review effort kicked off in April 2017, according to news reports.

However, this wasn’t Trump’s first order as president — more than a dozen earlier executive orders and memoranda are listed on the White House website.

More importantly, asking for a Nuclear Posture Review is not unusual; it’s expected. The Defense Department’s web page for the Nuclear Posture Review describes it as "legislatively mandated."

Indeed, it’s common for new presidents to put their stamp on the nation’s nuclear capabilities by issuing a new review within two years after entering office.

Bill Clinton produced one in 1994. George W. Bush produced one in 2002. And Barack Obama produced one in 2010. (Apparently, the Trump administration hasn’t updated its Pentagon web page on the Nuclear Posture Review. When we accessed it on Aug. 9, it still had a photo and "notable quote" by Hillary Clinton on it.)

A larger issue with Trump’s assurance: Experts unanimously said the U.S. nuclear arsenal could not have improved to the extent Trump described in just over 200 days.

There have been incremental improvements, but they have been trickling out under a plan begun under Trump’s predecessor, Obama.

The United States is engaged in a multiyear program to modernize the nation’s nuclear arsenal, including the rebuilding of the Minuteman III system, which launches intercontinental ballistic missiles, and the Trident II submarine-launched missile systems, as well as the refurbishment of nuclear warheads and construction of new and upgraded facilities, such as a uranium processing facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn. (Here’s an updated rundown of the modernization plan published by the Arms Control Association.)

The modernization effort was estimated to cost roughly $35 billion a year over a decade, or 5 percent to 6 percent of planned national defense spending, according to Congressional Budget Office reports released in December 2013 and January 2015.

Its most recent estimate, released in February 2017, CBO said the modernization effort would cost $400 billion between 2017 and 2026, or $52 billion more than CBO’s 2015 estimate, "largely because modernization programs will be ramping up." Cumulatively, total costs could reach $1 trillion over the next 30 years.

Experts panned Trump's boast of rapid improvements.

"It would be a pretty fantastic claim under even Cold War standards given the size and scope of the arsenal," said Richard Nephew, a senior research scholar at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy and a former State Department official under Obama.

But given the restrictions under the New START treaty that went into force in 2011, it would be "pretty difficult, if not impossible, to achieve except in a crash, well-publicized effort."

Matthew Bunn, a nuclear-policy specialist who teaches at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, called Trump’s claim "simply false."

"There is a total of nothing that has changed substantially about the U.S. nuclear arsenal over the few months that Trump has been in office," Bunn said. "We have the same missiles and bombers, with the same nuclear weapons, that we had before."

Bottom line: In the scale of decades, six months is a blink of the eye, experts said.

This is not the first time Trump has sought to paint a picture of weak stewardship of the U.S. nuclear arsenal under Obama. As early as June 2015, Trump said, "Even our nuclear arsenal doesn't work. It came out recently they have equipment that is 30 years old. They don't know if it worked." We rated that False.

Our ruling

Trump said, "My first order as president was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before."

What Trump did shortly after taking office was neither his first order nor a unique action; every new president in recent years has requested a Nuclear Posture Review.

In addition, the ongoing nuclear modernization plan -- which dates back to the Obama administration and will take decades to complete -- would not have notched achievements in six months sufficient to be characterized as "far stronger and more powerful than ever before."

We rate the statement False

Newer

Older

Scroll down for more posts ▼

Top 10 Most Recent News Articles

Aurra Markets Wins 'Most Transparent Broker' Award 2026

Spotlight on Transparency in Trading Alright, so Aurra Markets snagged the 'Most Transparent Broker' award at the Money Expo in Mumbai this year. From the greasy streets of trading floors to the polished halls of Jio World Convention Centre, transparency is one of those golden words you hear tossed around, but like finding a needle in a haystack, it’s not always easy to...

LITEON Bets Big on Liquid Cooling with DCX Stake

Liquid Cooling: The AI Data Center Game Changer Alright, here's a twist in the tech saga that even a crusty old trader like me finds intriguing. LITEON (2301.TW) has made a bold move investing in DCX Liquid Cooling Systems with a $176 million deal for 25% equity. We're talking about liquid cooling here—it's the magic ingredient when your AI and HPC data centers start...

Ares Management Heads to Barclays Conference Spotlight

All Eyes on Ares – From the Trading Floor to Barclays Nothing like the crisp snap of traders' attention when big players like Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) are set to spill some beans at a fancy conference. Come September 16, 2026, Ares' head honcho, Michael Arougheti, will be hitting the stage at the Barclays Global Financial Services Conference. It’s the...

Curaleaf Eyes Growth: Conference Signals Opportunities

Curaleaf's Strategic Move: Getting in Front of Investors Here comes Curaleaf Holdings, stepping into the spotlight with their eye on increasing investor engagement. Announcing their participation in the ATB Cormark Capital Markets 2026 Fall Institutional Investor Conference, the folks at Curaleaf aren't just talking—they're putting their top brass under the lights. You...

Navimow's H5 Pro Mower Marries Tech with Nature Care

Garden Tech Reinvented: Enter the H5 Pro Mower Welcome to the 21st-century garden, where robotic ingenuity meets a genuine regard for nature. Folks, the Navimow H5 Pro just rolled onto the scene and it’s tearing up the old playbook of garden maintenance. It’s like blending Silicon Valley tech with Jane Goodall’s wildlife sensibilities. We're talking zero-edge...

Joseph Spine Opens New Regenerative Therapy Center

Regenerative Medicine: A New Frontier in Spine Care When spine care gets a facelift, you take notice. Joseph Spine Institute, a heavyweight in the spine care game, just threw hat into the regenerative ring. We're talking about using a patient's own cells to mend what's broken—that's advanced. They're launching a Regenerative Therapy Center in Tampa, ready to offer these...

Eosera Defies Odds with Texas-Made Ear Care Dominance

Who would've thought an ear care outfit outta Fort Worth could snag a spot on the Inc. 5000 list for six years running? That's right, eosera® is hanging tough, even while the industry's been in a tailspin and tariffs have been squeezing everyone’s margins. Pushing Through Tough Terrain The ear care sector isn't exactly the first place investors look for a splash,...

Perspecta's Study Reveals Troubling Data Accuracy Gaps

Data Accuracy in Healthcare: A Persistent Problem Just when you think data's about numbers and cold, hard facts, healthcare jolts you awake. Perspecta's fresh insights onto provider data accuracy aren't just a snooze fest of statistics but a genuine wake-up call. This report peels open a can of worms some might prefer to ignore. With only half of provider data accurate,...

Nasdaq Flashes Warning Signs for Scage Future's Compliance

Two Strikes from Nasdaq: A Wake-Up Call? Scage Future's getting a double-shot of reality from Nasdaq after slipping under crucial thresholds. Here's the score: Scage's been dinged on their Market Value of Listed Securities (MVLS) and Market Value of Publicly Held Shares (MVPHS). Over a stretch from mid-July to late August, these benchmarks floundered below the line. The...

Alcatraz AI: A Silent Titan in Data Center Security

Why Alcatraz AI is the Security of Choice Forget flashy press releases and splashy marketing campaigns. Alcatraz AI, a company operating out of the hustle and bustle of Cupertino, has managed to quietly dominate a key sector without many folks being the wiser. What's their claim to fame, you ask? They're the chosen gatekeepers for over half of the hyperscale data centers...