President Donald Trump on Thursday warned that the world’s top nuclear powers could destroy the planet many times over and revealed he will seek talks with Russia and China to agree to mutually slash military budgets by up to 50%.
Which is odd, considering Democrats spent much of his first term warning that Trump is not to be trusted with nukes.
“There’s no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons, we already have so many,” the President told reporters. “You could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and they’re building nuclear weapons.”
“We’re all spending a lot of money that we could be spending on other things that are actually, hopefully much more productive.”
It’s a paradox that often came up during the Cold War, when America and the Soviets had even more nuclear weapons than they do now. Then, as now, America, Russia, and China each individually have many times the amount of firepower needed to end all life on earth.
As such, President Trump intends to enter the lion’s den by speaking directly to Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate a drawdown.
Trump To Engage In Nuclear Talks
Several American presidents have tried to engage in denuclearization efforts with other world leaders over the years, to varying degrees of success. Will Trump be able to bring his ‘art of the deal’ platform to such a high-stakes negotiation?
It’s an ambitious goal. One he’d like to start once “we straighten it all out” in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Bro is trying to stop wars that escalated under Joe Biden first, and then immediately jump in to stopping future wars. He is the most prominent peace-oriented President this country has seen in modern times. Paging the Nobel Peace Prize committee.
“One of the first meetings I want to have is with President Xi of China, President Putin of Russia. And I want to say, ‘let’s cut our military budget in half,’” he said. “And we can do that. And I think we’ll be able to.”
Trump, in his first term, expressed interest in denuclearization talks with Russia and China, and he had high-profile summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2018 and 2019, although no concrete denuclearization agreement was reached.
But this is Trump 2.0, with fewer recalcitrants ready to sabotage him behind the scenes. He’s more determined than ever to achieve his goals, and this determination has been evident in his approach.
Trump proposes trilateral agreement with China and Russia to mutually draw down military budgets by 50%
“One of the first meetings I want to have is with president Xi of China, president Putin of Russia. And I want to say, let’s cut our military budget in half.” pic.twitter.com/HoCPw7JUur
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) February 13, 2025
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Democrats Warned Trump Was a Nuclear War Waiting To Happen
This denuclearization proposal is part of Trump’s broader strategy to reframe America’s outdated Cold War foreign policy and reduce military spending, which he argues could be better used elsewhere.
Putin and Jinping would seemingly have to significantly de-escalate and slash their nuclear stockpiles before talks can even get off the ground.
The fact that Trump is seeking a denuclearization agreement comes following years of Democrats fear-mongering that he was a nuclear threat.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) warned that Trump was too “unstable” to be trusted with nuclear weapons during a congressional hearing on nuclear authorization in 2017.
“We are concerned that the President of the United States is so unstable, is so volatile, has a decision-making process that is so quixotic that he might order a nuclear weapons strike that is wildly out of step with US national security interests,” he said.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) agreed, saying, “Many Americans fear that the President’s words could turn into nuclear reality.”
Mean tweets, apparently, lead to dropping nukes.
And, of course, the most famous evidence that they felt Trump was a nuclear spark waiting to happen involved traitor Mark Milley. General Milley openly conspired with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to label Trump “crazy” and assure her that the nuclear codes were “safe” following the January 6th protest.
Trump was still in office when the conversation between Pelosi and Milley took place, and a military leader was assuring one political party that the President of the United States couldn’t take military action to protect the country if he saw fit.
Projection. Perhaps the biggest nuclear threats were the Democrats all along.
