The US President’s idea was to stop the hurricanes from hitting the US, according to White House sources. During one hurricane briefing, Trump asked his administration if they could nuke the vicious storms, Axios reported. They claim he reportedly raised the idea in another conversation with a senior official by asking if it was possible to “bomb hurricanes”.
Trump reportedly said: “I got it. I got it. Why don’t we nuke them?
“They start forming off the coast of Africa, as they’re moving across the Atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can’t we do that?”
The briefer is said to have responded: “Sir, we’ll look into that.”
Trump went on to ask how many hurricanes the US could take care of.
The White House have responded to the claims and said they don’t comment on “private discussions”.
A spokesman told Axios: “We don’t comment on private discussions that the president may or may not have had with his national security team.”
Trump’s plans were hailed as “not bad” by a senior official.
They told Axios: “His goal — to keep a catastrophic hurricane from hitting the mainland — is not bad.
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The idea of using nuclear weapons to halt hurricanes has been addressed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Their fact sheet reads: “Apart from the fact that this might not even alter the storm, this approach neglects the problem.
“The released radioactive fallout would fairly quickly move with the tradewinds to affect land areas and cause devastating environmental problems.
“Needless to say, this is not a good idea.”
Further, dropping a nuclear bomb into a hurricane would be banned under the terms of the Peaceful Nuclear Explosions Treaty between the US and the former Soviet Union.
Social media users have been quick to comment on the allegations.
One Twitter user said: “No way he said that out loud.”
Another added: “It’s insane, completely insane. Stop normalising the bizarre.”
A third person said: “He’s completely bonkers but his heart is in the right place.”