Welcome to this episode of the award-winning Best of the Left podcast. The most dangerous part of

nuclear weapons has always been the people in charge of them. As we potentially enter a new

arms race, some of the worst people in the world are in charge of the vast majority of nuclear

weapons.

For those looking for a quick overview, the source is providing our top takes in about

45 minutes today includes TLDR News Global, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists,

Nuclear Hot Seat, Seen on Radio, and At the Brank.

Then, in the additional deeper dives half of the show, there will be

more in four sections. Section A, constant peril, followed by section B, the new arms race

worse than the first, section C, the deterrence myth, and section D, the aftermath 80 years later.

But first, a reminder to check out our new show solved on the Best of Left YouTube channel. We're proud of the show we're making, and you're going to get real value out of it. Plus, you checking it out actually helps us find new viewers on YouTube. So thanks in advance for all of your reviews, likes, subscribes, and comments on YouTube. That's all on the best of the left YouTube channel,

linked in the show notes. And now, on to the show.

In his announcement, Trump said, quote, because of other countries testing programs, I've instructed the Department of War to start testing our nuclear weapons on an

equal basis. Trump's ambiguity left open a few different possibilities. The most dramatic being

that the US would begin carrying out test nuclear explosions. For context, the US hasn't carried out

any nuclear explosion since 1992, and only North Korea has carried out explosive nuclear

tests in the 21st century, most recently in 2017. So, if what Trump is talking about is a

return to explosive nuclear tests, it would be a dramatic appending of decades of US policy,

and though the international nuclear test regime into doubt,

by significantly undermining any existing American credibility on non-proliferation,

and likely provoking some kind of reciprocal response by other nuclear-armed states like Russia and China.

But Trump's energy secretary Chris Wright, whose agency is responsible for testing,

...