Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested to senior aides and advisers that the US should try using nuclear bombs to stop hurricanes.
The US President has reportedly said the weapons should be used to hit the tropical cyclones before they make landfall on American soil.
According to Axios during a hurricane briefing at the White House in the first year or so of his presidency President Trump suggested to one adviser: “I got it. I got it. Why don’t we nuke them?”
“They start forming off the coast of Africa — as they’re moving across the Atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can’t we do that?”
Axios claims Trump made a similar comment to a senior administration official recorded in a 2017 national security council memo.
Then the US President referred to bombing the storms but there was no reference to the term “nuclear”.
National Geographic published an article pointing out how frequent the idea of nuking hurricanes has been over the last few decades shortly after Trump came to power.
It said: “It’s an appealing thought, especially when, during hurricane season, we’re annually reminded of the immense destruction wrought by these storms.
“And it’s probably why, every year for the past six decades, government agencies have received missives from concerned citizens, urging preemptive attacks against hurricanes using nuclear weapons.”
But sadly for the US President the expert concluded: “Needless to say, this is not a good idea.”
The White House declined to comment on the Axios report. “We don’t comment on private discussions that the president may or may not have had with his national security team,” it said.
