Says he made nuclear arsenal stronger and more powerful

[struggle4progress]

Tom DiChristopher
2 Hours Ago

President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that the nation's nuclear arsenal is more formidable today as a result of his actions, but experts say the agencies responsible for the arsenal have not taken any demonstrable steps to strengthen it — at least not on the president's orders ...

The Department of Defense and the Energy Department have indeed undertaken a long-delayed modernization of the U.S. nuclear arsenal and related systems and facilities, but their current initiatives were started before Trump's inauguration, many on President Barack Obama's watch.

Shortly after his inauguration, Trump ordered a comprehensive review of the U.S. military, including conducting a Nuclear Posture Review. That review began in April and is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year ...

"Nothing has changed in the seven months since he took office. The U.S. nuclear arsenal is no more or no less powerful" ...

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/09/trump-says-hes-made-the-us-nuclear-arsenal-far-stronger-he-hasnt.html

[maxsolomon]

1. doesn't matter to his audience

the lie rocketed around the echo chamber before the truth got it's pants on.

[struggle4progress]

2. Pointless Untruths About Nuclear Weapons

DAVID A. GRAHAM
10:43 AM ET

In a global crisis, much less a possible nuclear showdown, credibility is essential ...

... the president demonstrated the gravity of the problem with a statement Wednesday morning, delivered via Twitter. It’s a classic Trump moment: an untruth that is relatively unimportant on its own but disturbing and confusing as part of a pattern, and extremely easy to debunk ...

There is no evidence that Trump has made any material changes to the nation’s nuclear preparedness. On January 27, he instructed Defense Secretary James Mattis to conduct a Nuclear Posture Review “to ensure that the United States’ nuclear deterrent is modern, robust, flexible, resilient, ready, and appropriately tailored to deter 21st-century threats and reassure our allies.” But that’s a lengthy process, which didn’t begin until April and won’t be concluded until the end of the year.

Changes to the nation’s nuclear arsenal take years, to say nothing of hundreds of billions of dollars to implement. When President Obama last conducted a Nuclear Posture Review in 2010, he outlined steps to modernize the “nuclear triad” of submarines, bombers, and intercontinental ballistic missiles. (Trump infamously had no idea what the triad was during a 2015 GOP primary debate.) That process is not meant to be completed until the 2020s ...

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/trumps-pointless-untruths-about-us-nuclear-weapons/536319/

[Eugene]

3. Trump used the same "as never before" language to describe the "new" fight against ISIS.

In the Trump world, this is called "truthful exaggeration." He lives by it. As long as the base believes it, he's happy.

[Gothmog]

4. Trump is lying yet again

[Generic Other]

5. Weaponized mouth doesn't count

He Someone put a gag on him.

[VOX]

6. Truth and facts are just...gone. They don't exist anymore.

Everyone on the right seems to have their own individual truth and facts. Pick and choose, mix and match. No two alike!