Trump Suggested Dropping a Nuclear Bomb to Stop a Hurricane. Really.

I can’t believe I am typing this sentence: President Donald Trump apparently actually suggested dropping a nuclear bomb into a hurricane in order to stop the natural disaster. What’s worse is that he suggested this multiple times.

I don’t want you to think I’m exaggerating what Axios is reporting, so let’s go to the tape about an undated hurricane briefing:

During one hurricane briefing at the White House, Trump said, “I got it. I got it. Why don’t we nuke them?” according to one source who was there. “They start forming off the coast of Africa, as they’re moving across the Atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can’t we do that?” the source added, paraphrasing the president’s remarks.

In response, Axios reported that the person basically told the president that they’ll investigate it as a possibility. But Trump wasn’t done! “Trump replied by asking incredulously how many hurricanes the U.S. could handle and reiterating his suggestion that the government intervene before they make landfall,” Axios reported.

Like me, the people in the meeting were floored at the stupidity exhibited. Axios reported that the person briefing the president “was knocked back on his heels. … You could hear a gnat fart in that meeting. People were astonished. After the meeting ended, we thought, ‘What the f—-? What do we do with this?’”

Despite that enchanting image, there’s more to discuss. In 2017, a National Security Council memo details a second conversation about the president asking how to “bomb the hurricanes.” This time the memo doesn’t mention a nuclear bomb (which Axios tries to frame a positive thing).

The White House told Axios there would be no comment “on private discussions” between the NSC and Trump. Another source tried to put a positive spin on Trump’s bombing comments to Axios: “His goal — to keep a catastrophic hurricane from hitting the mainland — is not bad. His objective is not bad.”

Hurricane season goes until the end of November, so I’m excited (I’m not) to see this brought up again!