Donald Trump boasted on social media that he upgraded the US nuclear arsenal, but he didn’t. The plan he is taking credit for was formed and implemented by President Obama.
Trump tweeted:
My first order as President was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 9, 2017
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Trump’s statement was not true.
In the fall of 2016, President Obama committed to spending $1 trillion over 30 years to modernize the US nuclear arsenal.
As Bloomberg reported last year, as Trump was demanding strengthened US nuclear capability, “It’s hard to know exactly what Trump means — such are the limitations of communication via 140 characters or off-the-air phone calls to morning-TV hosts — but it’s possible he is simply referring to the need to continue the U.S.’s nuclear modernization program. In the 2016 federal budget, President Barack Obama laid the groundwork for a $1 trillion overhaul of the nation’s nuclear arsenal: warheads, missiles, bombers, submarines, targeting systems and the Department of Energy’s huge research and development system.”
The plan is controversial as there is much debate over whether or not the United States should spend $1 trillion over 30 years to upgrade the US nuclear arsenal, but for Trump to pretend that he is projecting strength against North Korea by hiding behind Obama’s program is a special shade of dishonesty even for this president.
Whether one likes the plan or not, the fact is that it wasn’t Trump’s idea, as the do-nothing president continues his theft of Obama’s plans and accomplishments.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
