In January 1981, several decades before the advent of social media, a comedy skit was aired by an American television network. In it, outgoing US President Jimmy Carter was briefing ultra-conservative President-elect Ronald Reagan. Reagan showed little interest and fiddled with a pen as Carter went over intricate economic and social issues in his handover notes. Carter then arrived at nuclear policy; he brought out and opened the briefcase in which the US President could press buttons to launch nuclear war. At that point Reagan suddenly sat straight up and instantly stretched his hand to press the button! Wise old man Jimmy Carter hurriedly captured Reagan’s hand and stopped him from pressing the button.
In his eight years as US President [1981-89], Ronald Reagan did a lot of hard anti-Communist rhetoric, but he never pressed the nuclear button. At last, a man has arrived on the old seat of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan who will hurriedly push the buttons of war without second thought, without careful reasoning, without Congressional approval, without a care for thousands of lives lost, without concern for the lives of his own service members, without a hoot about the advice of his NATO allies, without concern for the security of his Gulf allies, without recourse to the UN Security Council, without consideration for world economic health, and listening only to a man who is internationally wanted for war crimes.
That old skit has finally come true.
