Ending the Nuclear Threat: A Message to President-Elect Trump

To President-Elect Trump

I write political novels.

My most recent work, The Moment of Menace, imagines a wealthy U.S. president who decides to invest her political capital and her fortune in a campaign to end the threat of nuclear war.

The campaign begins at the grassroots, with a public relations effort to elevate the nuclear threat into a top-of-the-list worldwide issue. The goal is to secure a billion signatures on a petition urging world leaders to sign a treaty agreeing to:

1. Never use nuclear weapons.

2. Destroy all those that exist.

3. Never produce more.

4. Join enforcement of the ban against any nation-state or non-state group that does not voluntarily comply.

In my novel, once the U.S. president has achieved worldwide popular support for the treaty, she negotiates acceptance with the leaders of Russia and China. She convinces them that to not do so risks major dissatisfaction among their own people. That’s the stick. The carrot is saving them trillions that would be needed to engage in an open-ended nuclear arms race.

That’s the fictionalized version of how the U.S. president saves the planet from this moment of nuclear menace. Now, as the actual president, you will have the opportunity to save the planet in the real world.

The Current Nuclear Danger: A Real-Life Crisis

That opportunity’s been created by a confluence of events. All nuclear-armed countries, including ours, are at a pivot point, planning to spend trillions of dollars to modernize and increase current arsenals and to turn space into a nuclear military zone.

Putin has withdrawn from the longstanding nuclear control agreement and is threatening to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. The Russians already have parked a satellite in a higher than conventional orbit where U.S. intelligence believes the Russians are experimenting with weapons that could destroy all of our satellites.

The Pentagon is planning a wholesale upgrade of the entire U.S. land, sea and air nuclear arsenal.

China is at the initial phase of doubling the number of its nuclear weapons.

Iran has reached the uranium enrichment zone needed to enter the nuclear club. The Saudis are talking about becoming a nuclear armed country because of the Iranian threat.

With a resumption of what once was a nuclear weapons race, the result, either by intention, miscalculation or accident, could be catastrophic to all humanity. At minimum, trillions of dollars devoted to nuclear weapons would be economically crippling to all countries involved.

But where there’s danger, there’s also opportunity.

A Historic Opportunity for Global Leadership

My fictional president mastered the art of building mass support for an issue. You have proven in your political campaigns that you have the same unique skill. My fictional president had the financial resources to underwrite a worldwide issue campaign. So do you. You have it within your power to launch a campaign to raise consciousness about the nuclear threat and to build a worldwide popular consensus strong enough to force other leaders to respond.

As in my fictional version, every nuclear-armed country now is struggling with massive debt. Forgoing a nuclear arms race would save trillions. In the U.S. alone, it would provide a popular way to massively cut the budget and the national debt.

Given your unique relationship with Putin and the need to renegotiate the longstanding nuclear arms treaty, you have a reason and a vehicle for taking leadership here.

In the interest of full disclosure, President-elect Trump, I did not vote for you and disagree with you on just about every issue and policy imaginable. But your past statements and actions have shown your interest in taming the nuclear weapons monster. On that, I and most Americans agree with you.

So, I urge you, seize the opportunity. Announcing your intentions in your inaugural address would electrify a worldwide audience and mobilize an army of supporters ready to join you in the challenge to end the threat of nuclear warfare. There are no downsides.

Then, use your negotiating skills to make the best deal of the century.

Comments? Criticism? Contact Joe Rothstein at jrothstein@rothstein.net