Primary Factors

[malthaussen]

17. But let's not go overboard.

Curious George did not push any buttons, despite having Darth Cheney in his office. The only President to ever push any buttons, the only person who ever pushed any buttons, was Harry Truman.

I distinctly remember people saying in 1980 that a vote for Carter was a vote for nuclear war. The fence next to the railroad station where I worked was plastered with posters of Carter's face inside a mushroom cloud. I have a less distinct memory of people saying the same thing about Barry Goldwater (hey, I was only 8 at the time, who knew from nuclear war?). I have a feeling that, at some point or other, every candidate since Harry Truman has been alleged to be a threat to push the button. But the button remains unpushed. (We'll set aside, for the nonce, the issue of using uranium-depleted warheads, which also lies at our doorstep, and no one else's).

I don't disagree that the current crop of GOP candidates are lunatics, and we would be well-advised to make every effort to see to it that they are not elected. But I doubt even Mr Trump would be fool enough to push any buttons (Mr Huckabee a different story, as he probably wants to immanentize the eschaton). The damage they will do will be less dramatic, if not less crippling to the US and the world.

-- Mal