Your Big Read analysis (“Return of an existential threat,” Financial Times, November 16) of the implications for nuclear weapons policy of Donald Trump’s election as US President seems to have been authored by writers who have little knowledge of Mr Trump’s several very interesting comments on nuclear weapons across several decades.
For instance, on 15 December 2015, he said “The biggest problem we have is nuclear—nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now.”( https://thinkprogress.org/9-terrifying-things-donald-trump-has-publicly-said-about-nuclear-weapons-99f6290bc32a)
At the end of March this year he told People magazine that pushing the nuclear button “would be such a last resort …” (http://www.people.com/article/real-donald-trump-people-special-report) and has stressed that he would be “very, very slow on the draw” repeating his assertion of 23 November last year that he would be somebody that would be ”amazingly calm under pressure.” (http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/donald-trump-nuclear-weapons_uk_56fbec2ae4b0c5bd919aa058).
Fascinatingly, as long ago as 1987, he told Manhattan Inc magazine he wanted to begin a crusade to find a way to halt a national security policy based on nuclear mutually assured destruction (MAD) “before a wild-card nuke deals death to millions” (www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_spectator/2016/03/trump_s_nuclear_experience_advice_for_reagan_in_1987.html
One very constructive rapprochement New York–born British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson could, indeed should, initiate as Mr Trump formulates his national security policy, is to to begin discussions with the President-elect’s transition team to promote Mr Trump’s three decade vintage multilateral nuclear disarmament plan
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