While President Donald Trump’s striking reference to the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor dominated headlines after Thursday’s Oval Office meeting, one journalist highlighted a lesser-noticed remark they warned was far more “ominous.”
During his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Trump issued what Zeteo journalist Andrew Perez described as a “vague, ominous threat that doesn’t necessarily require a genius to parse.”
“The military equipment, the power of some of this weaponry, is unthinkable,” Trump said, speaking of the United States’ weapon capabilities. “You don’t even want to know about it. Oh, you could end this thing in two seconds if you wanted to.”
In an analysis published Friday in Zeteo, Perez reached the conclusion that Trump was likely referring to one thing: “So… nukes?”
The Trump administration has already deployed some of the United States’ most destructive weapons in its war against Iran, which enters its third week on Saturday, including long-range cruise missiles, 5,000-pound bunker buster bombs, stealth bomber strikes and “suicide” drones.
For Trump to hint at the United States’ even-more destructive weapons, Perez suggested, could only mean nuclear weapons, which have only been used twice in war since first developed with the U.S. atomic bombings of Japan in 1945. While no evidence exists that the Trump administration is considering using nuclear weapons in its war against Iran, even hinting at such, Perez argued, was deeply alarming.
“Trump’s catastrophic war – which began with a shocking massacre of Iranian schoolchildren – is only going to get worse and more costly for everyone, regardless of their involvement or which side they are on,” Perez wrote. “Donald Trump might be America’s Mad King, but he is now the whole world’s problem.”