I’d launch nuclear strike against China if Trump ordered it
A US Pacific Fleet commander said Thursday that he would launch a nuclear attack into China next week if President Trump commanded it.
“The answer would be; yes,” said Adm. Scott Swift, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, in response to a hypothetical question from Australian National University security conference following a major joint US- Australian military exercise off the Australian coast. The drills were monitored by a Chinese intelligence-gathering ship off northeast Australia.
He also threatened against the military ever shifting its allegiance from Trump, its commander in chief.
Adm. Scott Swift said that Every member of the U.S. military has to defend the Constitution of the United States toward all enemies foreign and domestic.
His remarks appeared after a joint U.S.- Australian military operation off the Australian coast, and after Trump tweeted that the U.S. military wouldn’t allow transgender troops “in any capacity.” The tweet is an obvious rejection of about 6,000 train troops and the Obama-era policy that covered them.
Pacific Fleet spokesman Capt. Charlie Brown later said Swift’s statement reaffirmed the principle of civilian control over the military. The admiral was not addressing the premise of the question.
The statements came amid pressures between the United States and China over North Korea’s nuclear program.