“We Won’t Be Second in Line Pressing the Button” —Rosselló Exposes Trump’s Disturbing Mindset
According to a report by Mediaite on Thursday, June 20, 2024, former President Donald Trump left then-Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rosselló stunned during a 2017 visit to the island, which had been ravaged by Category 5 Hurricane Maria.
The hurricane, one of the deadliest natural disasters in Puerto Rico’s history, resulted in thousands of deaths and widespread destruction of infrastructure. Trump’s visit, memorable for its dramatic and often criticized moments, has now been further shadowed by Rosselló’s account of their conversations, where Trump casually discussed the prospect of nuclear war.
In his new book, “The Reformer’s Dilemma,” Rosselló provides an inside look into Trump’s visit. The Hill has obtained an excerpt from the book, where Rosselló describes his interactions with Trump, including a particularly alarming discussion about nuclear warfare.
This account brings to light the former president’s unpredictable and often shocking rhetoric during a critical moment of crisis for the island. As the two leaders surveyed the devastation from the air, Trump remarked, “Nature has a way of coming back.”
Rosselló recalls these words as a prelude to a more unsettling comment. Trump continued, “Well, it does until it does not. Who knows with nuclear warfare what will happen.” This segue from a natural disaster to the potential for human-induced catastrophe left Rosselló deeply unsettled.
The governor reflects on the surreal nature of the conversation, where the immense tragedy unfolding below them was abruptly overshadowed by the specter of nuclear war. The most alarming moment, according to Rosselló, came shortly after.
“And then, he said the one thing that made me more concerned than anything else in the entire visit,” Rosselló writes. “‘But I tell you what…’ He paused for effect. ‘If a nuclear war happens, we won’t be second in line pressing the button.’” This statement left Rosselló in a state of disbelief.
“This statement floored me. I could not believe what I was hearing. It was surreal. Was he really talking about total annihilation as we flew over the ravaged sights of the island?” Rosselló’s narrative paints a picture of a president whose focus seemed to drift alarmingly from the immediate crisis at hand to the abstract, yet horrifying, possibility of nuclear conflict.
This conversation is emblematic of Trump’s broader preoccupation with nuclear weapons, a subject he has often broached with a mixture of bravado and fatalism. Trump’s fascination with nuclear war is not new. In a recent interview with Fox News, he reiterated his view that nuclear warfare represents the greatest threat to humanity, far surpassing other global issues.
Trump criticized President Joe Biden’s emphasis on global warming as the primary existential threat, a stance Trump dismissed with characteristic scorn. “But this is the big threat,” Trump said.
“I watched Biden the other night. It’s the greatest existential — he loves that word because it’s a big word and he thinks — you know, he thinks — he knows — he doesn’t even know what the hell the word means. He goes, it’s the greatest existential threat to our country, global warming. In the meantime, you’ve got these maniacs with nuclear weapons that can do damage which I won’t even talk to you about.”
