Welcome to The Fill From the Hill, a recurring political column where one University Times writer dissects the key political topics and controversies in the news, from domestic politics to international affairs. This week tackles Trump’s recent statements on resuming nuclear testing. Despite my position, this column is not representative or a reflection of the opinions of the UT Staff nor the UT itself.
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While leaving Japan to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea, President Trump posted to his Truth Social account that the United States would resume testing nuclear weapons after a 33-year hiatus.
The decision is rumored to be based around a recent test conducted by Russia, in which the Russian military tested a nuclear-powered autonomous torpedo on Oct. 28.
Nuclear tests became a major part of the 20th century as the Cold War ebbed and flowed over the decades. The final test that the United States conducted was on Sept. 23, 1992, as part of the Divider test in Operation Julin. The United States ceased tests following that date for several reasons, including the collapse of the Soviet Union, as well as the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty of 1996.
Russia also signed the treaty, but rescinded its signature in 2023, citing the United States’ attitude towards global security. Despite this, there have been no known nuclear tests since then from the Russian Federation.
While Trump shared on Truth Social that the Department of War would handle the testing, the department has no precedent of conducting these tests. The nuclear arsenal of the United States is handled by the Department of Energy as well as the National Nuclear Security Commission, which has been the case since 1977 when the Energy Department was established by President Jimmy Carter.
Prior to 1977, nuclear tests were handled by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), which was founded in 1946 following the end of World War II. During the 1950s, the AEC developed plans for peaceful uses of atomic energy beyond the atomic bomb.
When asked about their test, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated to reporters that any tests conducted by the United States would be responded to accordingly, signaling a potential for Russian nuclear testing to resume.
In his post on Truth Social, Trump claimed that the United States “has more nuclear weapons than any other country.” According to the Arms Control Association, Russia has 5,580 nuclear warheads, while the United States only has 5,225. However, these are only estimates as the numbers are classified.
Now that the table is set, let’s get into our views on the potential resumption of nuclear testing.
Samuel Valencia: With all the things that Trump says, it’s hard to separate the random, inane one-off from the genuine threat. This seems to fall into the latter category.
Of all the dangers we as a species face on a daily basis, the nuclear threat is one that has, somehow, successfully been dispelled since the end of the Cold War in the ‘90s. But ever since the invasion of Ukraine in Feb. 2022, it’s one that some countries are getting way too comfortable throwing around.
Trump is a master of speaking in threats that lack any real action. If his tariff policy is anything to go off, his word is rarely worth anything at all, and his actions are about as bankrupt as his morals. But this time around, something is different. His entire administration has been laser-focused on “making America strong again,” and while I’m not really sure where our strength went, this would definitely fit his definition.
Any expansion of nuclear testing or even the mention of using nuclear arms again is a wildcard that no world leader should be willing to play. With world affairs as unstable as they have been for the last four to five years, one wrong move could spell doomsday.
The idea that our nuclear arsenal is being handled by the combined powers of a meathead like Trump and a spineless lapdog like Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is a nightmare on its own. Honestly, it being called the “Department of War” is just begging for something to happen, which I’m sure is the ego boost Hegseth is looking for. Hegseth’s bizarre speech to the military’s generals earlier this month showcased his odd fixation on masculinity, and flexing our nuclear arsenal to the world is probably making him drool like a cartoon dog dreaming of a t-bone steak.
There is a reason that despite how close we came throughout the Cold War, no nuclear weapons were deployed. Their destructive power is absolute, and once a decision like this one is made, it cannot be undone. The lives destroyed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki to this day still serve as a grave reminder of the power that some nations hold.
Despite this, it should be no shock that Trump and Hegseth are the duo that are just crazy enough to resume nuclear testing. His cognitive decline and Hegseth’s weird obsession with strength make them a pair of terrifying leaders in charge of one of the largest nuclear arsenals in the world.
If Trump were to go through with this, he is letting the nuclear genie out of the bottle once again after we finally closed it. A risk that, given the volatile political situation between Poland, NATO, and Russia, could boil over and finally lead to a definitive decision that can’t be undone.
No matter what Trump believes, Vladimir Putin is not a man who can be trusted. Trump has called Putin a great friend, but his refusal to put a stop to the war in Ukraine shows that he is simply using Trump as a pawn. Any excuse Putin can use to finally hit his big red button is one he probably wouldn’t give a second thought to.
It’s hard to say if this situation will even go anywhere. Trump spews so much nonsense out of his mouth that everything gets mixed together in the worst possible word vomit that this entire country has to suffer from on a daily basis. But the thought of nuclear tensions rising should be taken very seriously across both sides of the aisle, with urges to cool tensions and condemnations, so we can keep the world as we know it safe.
