Trump’s tweets worry weapons expert: He’s being handed 'the most destructive death machine on the planet'

Appearing on MSNBC, a president of a global security firm that strongly advocates for nuclear disarmament had a frightening warning for American voters once President-elect is handed the so-called "nuclear football."

He will have control of the "most capable death machine on the planet."

Speaking with host Ari Melber, filling in for the vacationing Rachel Maddow, Ploughshares Fund President Joe Cirincione painted a frightening picture of the type of unbridled destruction a U.S. President can rain down upon the world -- with virtually no checks and balances.

After host Melber brought up Trump's declaration, "Let it be an arms race, we'll outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all," Cirincione cut right to the chase.

"In 24 days Donald Trump will take control of the American nuclear arsenal," he began. "This is by far the most destructive, the most capable death machine on the planet. He will be able to launch at his order, one or 1,000 nuclear warheads almost as easily as he now tweets. No one can reprimand him. No one can pull those missiles back once launched -- there is no self-destruct mechanism."

"It's extremely important that the president understand what's at stake here," he cautioned. "Every word that he says and now every tweet that he makes matters. So when he said those words last week, it's not clear that he understood what he meant. His handlers certainly didn't understand what he meant, nor did our adversaries nor did our allies. This is why, still a week later, we're still talking about this, why it's still sending tremors throughout the global national security architecture."

Noting that Russian President Vladimir Putin joined in with Trump in discussing nuclear power, Cirincione said Trump's tweet, along with Putin's comments, are now destabilizing the world.

"If Putin and Trump are now both talking about strengthening and expanding, as Trump said, their arsenals, that's a signal to the other guys to start their engine," he explained. "What's China going to do? What's India going to do? What's Pakistan going to do? That's what's so worrying about what Donald Trump is saying. If he's talking about a new arms race, it's all the eight -- or nine if you include North Korea -- nuclear nations in the world."

Watch the video below via MSNBC: