President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. will resume testing its nuclear weapons, stating that the move is necessary because America's adversaries have done so.
While the U.S. has the top military equipment in the world, spending several times more than other countries, Trump wants the U.S. to start blowing things up again. The problem, however, is that the government shutdown means the people who deal specifically with nuclear issues are furloughed.
Speaking to MSNBC on Thursday, Ian Bremmer, founder and president of the Eurasia Group, said that the tit-for-tat between Trump and Putin can't start right away.
"Well, they can't start nuclear testing now because the officials that would be in charge of that have mostly been furloughed," said Bremmer. "So, you have to get the government started. I guess that's an irony."
He noted that it appears to be a direct response from Trump to Russian President Vladimir Putin's threats to begin nuclear testing. Trump withdrew the United States from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia in August 2019.
Bremmer noted that it was revealed that Russia had a successful test of a nuclear-powered cruise missile, "which had the ability to hit the United States easily. And a torpedo, but that was not a nuclear test. It appears the president was confused about that and responded by saying, 'Yeah, we're gonna start doing nuclear testing.'"
The U.S. joined the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1996, and Bremmer thinks if the U.S. began testing again, then the Russians and Chinese would quickly follow.
