Trump Escalates Nuclear Threat to Russia… Taking the World to the Brink of Nuclear War

Donald Trump is behaving like some drugged-out teenage girl with his social media posts. Trump— the wannabe “Art of the Deal” emperor — is panic‑posting the world to the threshhold of nuclear war and taking other actions that Russia can only view as the US preparing to attack the motherland.

The latest escalation started with this tantrum by Trump:

Medvedev, who is an Olympic class troller, punched back with this warning:

About Trump’s threats against me on his personal network Truth, which he banned from operating in our country

If some words of the former president of Russia cause such a nervous reaction from such a formidable US president, it means Russia is right in everything and will continue on its own path.

And about the “dead economy” of India and Russia and the “entering dangerous territory” – well, let him remember his favorite movies about “the walking dead,” as well as how dangerous the non-existent in nature “dead hand” can be.

Trump, in a continuing display of ignorance, apparently took this as a Russian threat to launch a preemptive attack on the United States. The Russian “Dead Hand,” also known as the “Perimeter” system, is an automatic or semi-automatic nuclear command and control system developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War and reportedly still operational today. Its purpose is to guarantee a retaliatory nuclear strike against an enemy even if Russia’s leadership and command structure are destroyed in a decapitating attack. Medvedev was simply warning Trump that a decapitation strike on Moscow would still produce a retaliatory strike on the United States.

Instead of keeping his mouth shut, Trump bombastically huffed and puffed, like an impotent Big Bad Wolf, and announced that two nuclear submarines were heading toward Russia, just because Dmitry Medvedev roasted him online.

I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that.
— Donald J. Trump

We do not know if this means Trump has dispatched two additional submarines to reinforce the ones already in the Atlantic and the Pacific. But simply making this announcement represents a threat that Russia must take seriously.

But this is not the first escalation on the nuclear front. During the last two weeks, there have been two actions — both presumably endorsed by or carried out per a Presidential order — that have pushed the Doomsday clock closer to midnight. The first was a speech to NATO by General Christopher Donahue, the current head of US European Command. The second was the US reversing its policy on nuclear weapons in Europe.

DONAHUE:

During the mid-July 2025 during the Association of the US Army conference in Germany, General Christopher Donahue stated that NATO and US allied forces now have the capability to “neutralize” or “take down” the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad from the ground in an unprecedented and much faster timeframe than previously possible. He described Kaliningrad as being about 47 miles wide and surrounded on all sides by NATO countries, making it vulnerable to ground operations. This statement was made in the context of NATO’s “Eastern Flank Deterrence Line” plan, which aims to bolster ground-based military capabilities and readiness in the Baltic region.

Donahue emphasized the importance of the land domain in modern warfare and NATO’s enhanced ability to counter Russia’s “mass and momentum problem” using new capabilities developed based on lessons from the conflict in Ukraine. However, he did not provide specific operational details of how this capability would be executed.

Donahue’s ill-advised remarks ignited a furious reaction among politicians and citizens in Russia. Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the Russian State Duma’s International Affairs Committee, warned that an assault on Kaliningrad would be considered an attack on Russia itself, triggering all necessary retaliatory measures under Russia’s nuclear doctrine. The Russian side views Kaliningrad as strategically vital and any NATO attack on it as a major escalation possibly provoking nuclear response.

Words are one thing, but actions speak louder than words, and Trump authorized an action that leaves the Russians with no alternative but to conclude that the United States is preparing to attack Russia… He ordered sending nuclear weapons to Europe.

B61-12 Gravity Bombs:

Throughout the 1990s, the US closed or consolidated many bases. Weapons were withdrawn from some national bases and concentrated at fewer main air bases rather than fully returned to the US. For example, bombs were moved from minor bases in Germany, Italy, and Turkey to Ramstein, Ghedi Torre, and Incirlik, respectively.

All US nuclear weapons were withdrawn from Greece in the early 2000s, and the last bombs were removed from the UK’s RAF Lakenheath around 2007, ending more than 50 years of US nuclear presence there.

Now, in a major reversal, the United States has deployed the B61-12 gravity bombs to Europe. Deployment locations for B61-12 gravity bombs in 2025:

• RAF Lakenheath (United Kingdom): The B61-12 returned to the UK for the first time since 2008, with confirmed deliveries to RAF Lakenheath in July 2025.
• Kleine Brogel Air Base (Belgium)
• Büchel Air Base (Germany)
• Aviano and Ghedi Air Bases (Italy)
• Volkel Air Base (Netherlands)
• Incirlik Air Base (Turkey)

These bombs are now distributed across these six main bases in five NATO countries, with around 100–150 US B61-12 bombs forward deployed in total. The deployment to RAF Lakenheath in the UK represents a significant strategic signal, as it marks the first return of US tactical nuclear weapons to British soil in over 15 years.

What do you think Russia is doing? Sitting on its ass and ignoring these provocations? Or taking the necessary preparations to eliminate these threats if things heat up? I am betting on the latter course of action.

Trump’s announcement about the submarines had not been made when Colonel Wilkerson and I chatted with Nima this morning. I think I won the shirt competition. We discussed a range of issues, but agreed on one thing… Trump’s foreign policy is a mess:

Ray and I had a chance to react to Trump’s submarine decision during our weekly chat with Judge Napolitano: