Could anyone stop Trump if he decided to bomb North Korea?

I think it’s under his control as Commander in Chief.

Putin?
Putin.

Hopefully, his Joint Chiefs of Staff would advise him against that. Douglas McArthur warned against getting involved in war in Asia after his own experience in Korea. Of course, nobody listened.

Any True Patriot™ with good aim.

According to the rules as they now stand, the president of the United States can unilaterally give the order to fire nuclear missiles. Only his advisors and the chiefs of staff can persuade him not to, if he chooses to consult them at all.

I seriously don’t think even Trump would unilaterally fire nukes at N. Korea. It would put China in an awfully bad position to defend it’s troublesome little brother. It could set off a chain of events that could end the world as we know it.

Even Trump knows that.

@Espiritus_Corvus If Trump were to attack North Korea it would most likely be with conventional weapons, not nukes. However it is worrying that he could wake up some morning and order a strike as a distraction from his domestic problems.

It’s up to the UN, not Trump.

ha

As of right now if I’m not mistaken people have to follow orders and press the proper buttons. They can all tell Trump to go to hell.

I would think that if he were to bomb N Korea with even conventional weapons it would be grounds for impeachment. It would clearly be an act of war and the president doesn’t get to declare war, that is a power enumerated by the Constitution to congress. Currently the UN isn’t really engaged with N Korea and while Kim Jong Un is provocative, he hasn’t formally declared war on us and hasn’t attacked us.

So we wait until they do something then? Right now we need to be doing everything we can to work with China, S. Korea and Japan in getting this brat and his enablers out of the picture.

Exactly. You need to get rid of Drumpf.

What if they do something to deserve it?
Sometimes you guys remind me of the Eloi

It’s an interesting question. Yes, he has already demonstrated that the chief executive has the power to unilaterally order strikes against a sovereign nation, and requires no consent from anyone.

Inciting war with North Korea is very much within his power, but, as some have argued, this might be the kind of insanity that would finally make Americans reconsider how much power we’ve allowed the executive branch to accumulate. Particularly if he went nuclear.

@seawulf575 It is not necessarily true that the president can’t unilaterally commit an act of war, which is effectively a declaration of war.

The War Powers Resolution Act of 1973 (50 U.S.C. 1541–1548) only requires the President to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing armed forces to military action and forbids armed forces from remaining for more than 60 days, with a further 30-day withdrawal period, without a Congressional authorization for use of military force, or a declaration of war by the United States. The resolution was passed by two-thirds of Congress, overriding the veto of the bill from President Nixon (because he found it too restricting of presidential war powers).

A lot can happen in 90 days. A lot of irreversible damage can happen as well, damage that could commit us to war for years to come.

It has been alleged that the War Powers Resolution has been violated in the past – for example, by President Bush’s invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, Clinton in 1999 during the bombing campaign in Kosovo, Clinton’s invasion of Somalia in 1993, Reagan’s invasion of Panama in 1989, Reagan’s bombing of Libya in 1986, Reagan’s invasion of Grenada in 1983, Carter’s invasion of Iran in 1980,—all decisions made without full authorization of Congress. Some of these actions were approved after the fact, and others were not. But all of them took place.

There is an ethic in Washington: It is easier to ask forgiveness than it is to ask for permission.

I don’t worry much about North Korea which is in an exaggerated situation reminiscent of the Warsaw pact. Kim’s greatest enemy is his own people’s destitution. The information seive grows daily more porous as the number of clandestine radios, tvs and mobile phones permeate the society. The comparative paradise of existence in South Korea is already well recognized throughout the society at large. Time is not on Kim’s side.

While I generally agree with @josie on a lot of political and military issues, on this one I’m going to take an exception.

While the concept of “emergency executive action” made a certain amount of MAD sense during the days of the Cold War, we seem to have – at least for now – gotten past that. It’s not likely that anyone is going to launch a devastating nuclear launch against the continental USA, one that obliterates our ability to respond in kind. Because of that it’s also not likely that we’d have a reason (or even a pretext) for a massive preemptive or retaliatory strike of our own on an emergency basis. The bomber bases and launch silos won’t be neutralized any time soon by the kind of devastating attack to which we have no time to deliberate and make a well-thought, strategic and tactically sound response.

So we no longer really need a President with War Powers as we thought we did throughout the 1960s to near the end of the 20th century. (In that sense, thanks to all who participated in the nuclear buildup – and the debate – around the world, and the rational heads who prevailed in not starting WW III.)

But we still have the War Powers Act in effect… and no need of it. I’d say that we rescind that Act and give war-making power back to Congress, where it was intended. Yes, the President should still be the Commander in Chief, and he still has – and should have – the power to “wage war” after Congress declares one.

No one stopped Obama from dropping bombs on 7 countries and a few weddings.

Funny how most don’t believe the media lately, except for when it comes to war…

@seawulf575 War was never formally declared when North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950. Peace was never declared when the cease fire was finally signed in 1953, and the war has never actually been over, so a state of “war” still exists between the two Koreas. The UN was in it then, and they are in it now. According to the UN charter, which South Korea is a part of, if North Korea attacks them, he attacks all, so all, including the US, will be involved.

Didn’t Trump bomb that Syrian runway without permission? After the “gas attack.”

Such an act could easily trigger war.

I’m not excusing any other POTUS’s acts. Just saying, Trump has already exhibited this behavior….

Trump doesn’t have any “good” options here. It may have been part of the reason Obama was so hesitant to do something drastic. Obama knew it was a pool of gasoline. I think he understood the volatility of the situation, and tried to punt it to his successor. Not courageous, but he didn’t get a lot of people killed…

This is one of the main reasons I didn’t want Trump in office. This is a tumultuous issue, and it could go sideways easily. Inaction is almost preferable. But NK is ramping up their R and D, and Trump’s rhetoric is validating Kim’s paranoia…

The world will have to bite it’s lips, as two of the most insecure world leaders play a game of chicken…

I don’t envy Trump here. He has a lot of tricky variables at play. He could shock the world, and make great decisions here. And it could still end up a catastrophe.

My biggest fear, is someone briefing Trump in the middle of the night about some potential launch, in a couple years. I’ve read that our missile defense systems could inadvertently make Russia think we fired nukes at them, and they have a reflexive/automated countermeasure/counter strike system. According to a lot of sources, the Russian’s nuclear weapons program is still set up as it was in USSR days. The system is made to assure mutual annihilation, if it detects what it perceives as a preemptive nuclear strike by the US…

A chaotic chain reaction of events,could have cataclysmic results…

This doesn’t get enough attention…

At 8:55am, Donald Trump tweeted the following:

After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow…...

NINE FUCKING MINUTES LATER!!!

….Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming…..

Think about the first statement and what reasonable leaders of the world were thinking. FOR NINE FUCKING MINUTES.

Probably shitting in their drawers for 9 minutes, then falling on the floor laughing their ass off. Just speculating here. What is this country coming to?

Imagine if FDR had had access to Twitter and had been as scatter brained as Chump? “Yesterday, Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a day that will live in infamy – Pardon me boys, is that the Chatanooga Choo Choo?” Retweet…

I worry more about Trump doing or saying something that causes NK to fire a bomb than Trump sending over the first bomb.

As people said above, The President can order it. If the people below him don’t carry out the order then that would stop it, but eventually someone is going to carry out the order, even if we have a few people who would disobey the order.

I doubt that many world leaders were hanging on a Twitter feed for any number of minutes.

NK is not going to fire a nuke at us. NK wants parity with the big boys.. And, evidently, they can now reach Chicago with one of their nukes. Big deal. In a few months or less, they will be able to reach NYC. They will then have parity. What they want is wheat and rice next winter, not war.

What they want is to hold the rest of the world hostage to their wants and desires.

This issue has come up in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing

“One of the experts, C Robert Kehler, who was commander of the US Strategic Command from 2011–13, said that in his former role he would have followed the president’s order to carry out the strike – if it were legal.
He said if he were uncertain about its legality, he would have consulted with his own advisers.
Under certain circumstances, he explained: “I would have said, ‘I’m not ready to proceed.’”
One senator, Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, asked: “Then what happens?”
Mr Kehler admitted: “I don’t know.”
People in the room laughed. But it was a nervous laugh.”