Donald Trump just whacked the ball back to Russia with a string of eyebrow-furrowing comments on nuclear arms.
On Sunday, deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev wrote on social media that Russia’s “production of nuclear weapons” would continue.
“A number of countries are ready to directly supply Iran with their own nuclear warheads,” he noted.
So Trump took to Truth Social Monday to play out the delicate foreign exchange, asking if Medvedev was “casually throwing around the ‘N word,’” as in, nuclear.
“Did he really say that or, is it just a figment of my imagination? If he did say that, and, if confirmed, please let me know, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump said. “The ‘N word’ should not be treated so casually.”
“I guess that’s why Putin’s ‘THE BOSS,’” he continued.
The U.S. president then opted against de-escalating the rhetoric, choosing instead to bring up America’s nuclear submarine fleet, which he claimed are “20 years advanced over the pack.”
“They are the most powerful and lethal weapons ever built, and just launched the 30 Tomahawks—All 30 hit their mark perfectly,” he wrote.
Without congressional approval, Trump directed airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities Saturday. The attack damaged facilities in Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan, with damage estimates expected to be “very significant,” according to International Atomic Energy Agency Director Rafael Grossi.
The action sparked backlash from some Republican lawmakers, including Representative Thomas Massie, who argued that war with Iran was not constitutional. Massie also chastized House Speaker Mike Johnson for practically handing over Congress’s sole authority to declare war to the White House, questioning online why the leading Republican lawmaker did not “call us back from vacation to vote on military action if there was a serious threat to our country.”
Massie offered Trump a full-throated endorsement in the 2024 race on the basis that he would prevent “needless wars abroad.”
Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, condemned the American attack on Iran, and said that “accepting the recent U.S. actions would undermine all the progress the international community has made in the field of nuclear non-proliferation,” according to Middle East Monitor.
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