Albert R. Hunt, Columnist

Trump Finger on Nuclear Button? Too Risky, Says Maine Senator

The only independent in Congress wants a different finger on the nuclear button.

May 19, 2016 at 2:45 AM UTC

Albert R. Hunt is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He was the executive editor of Bloomberg News, before which he was a reporter, bureau chief and executive Washington editor at the Wall Street Journal.

Vexed.
Photographer: Allison Shelley/Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

If you wonder whether Donald Trump’s lack of experience in the national security arena could hurt his candidacy, consider Senator Angus King, the only independent in Congress. After a recent trip on the “doomsday plane,” the one to be used by the president in the event of a nuclear attack, King has concluded that the presumptive Republican nominee is not fit to be commander-in-chief.

The Maine Senator, a member of the Armed Services and Intelligence committees, said he and several other lawmakers recently flew in a mock exercise on the plane. That persuaded him that it would be too risky to put Trump in a position to order the use of a nuclear weapon. "In that situation, there is only one person making that decision," King said Wednesday on the Charlie Rose PBS program. "One person has about 20 minutes to decide the fate of civilization."