Does Donald Trump Actually Want To Start Denuclearization?

Little noticed remarks from Davos should get more attention.

By William Hartung, Responsible Statecraft

Throughout his time in public life, Donald Trump has been nothing if not unpredictable. His public statements can be all over the map, and predicting which of them will be followed up with decisive action has been a losing proposition.

This time it may be different. In his first days in office he has released a torrent of executive orders designed to advance his stated agenda, from mass deportations to cleansing government programs of anything involving even a whiff of the so-called “woke agenda.”

But some promises are harder to keep than others. So it is with Trump’s recent, remarkable remarks at Davos about seeking global “denuclearization” in light of the costs and devastating capabilities of nuclear weapons.

donald trump in front of supporters at a rally

There was no indication that Trump intended to talk about nuclear weapons in Davos. His formal remarks were focused on Biden bashing and self-congratulatory rhetoric about his first batch of executive orders, along with the usual demand that NATO allies spend a higher share of their GDP for military purposes.

Later in his address, he immodestly claimed that “we’ve done more in four days … than other administrations have accomplished in four years.”

But once the bragging stopped and the Q&A began, Trump said the following in response to a question about U.S. relations with China:

“Tremendous amounts of money are being spent on nuclear, and the destructive capacity is something we don’t even want to talk about today, because you don’t want to hear it.”