Guest writer: Under Trump, the global ‘Doomsday Clock’ creeps closer to midnight

It’s 89 seconds to midnight! The prestigious Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has set the “Doomsday Clock” closer to midnight than ever before, accentuating the danger of possible nuclear war and climate catastrophe. With wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East and nuclear powers such as Russia, the United States and Israel deeply involved in these wars, the prospect of a nuclear weapons conflagration loom large.

As Donald Trump takes office, there is even more concern by scientists. Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation plan, written by 20 former advisors and officeholders of the Trump Administration, outlines a plan for increasing the current nuclear arsenal and for the possible testing of nuclear weapons. Christopher Miller, an advisor to Trump, declares that the United States needs to be in a superior nuclear position to deter any opposing nuclear threat. He also has suggested that the U.S. restore nuclear weapons testing.

The U.S. is currently in a nuclear weapons modernization and buildup to the tune of $1.7 trillion over the next 30 years. In tax year 2023, the U.S. expenditure on nuclear weapons was $94,485,000,000. The U.S. is not transparent with many military expenditures, so the cost may be much more. 

The Heritage 2025 plan would increase the costs and the buildup. Over the past few years, the U.S. posture has caused the development of more weapons and delivery systems in China, Russia and North Korea. As concerning as this is, the plan to begin live testing of new nuclear weapons is disastrous.

It’s a local issue, also

Here in Washington state, we are host to refugees from the Marshall Islands where the U.S. atomic testing from 1946–58 at Bikini Atoll made most of the islands uninhabitable. That population is still having ramifications from nuclear testing years later with cancers and birth defects in their children and grandchildren.

The Spokane Tribe suffers from the ramifications of waste from uranium mining, and the Hanford superfund site in Southeastern Washington has cost billions of dollars to protect the Columbia River and the people there from being contaminated with radiation from nuclear waste. House Speaker Mike Johnson of the U.S. House of Representatives has refused to bring the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) up for a renewal vote because of the cost!

Washington state hosts the third largest deployment of nuclear weapons in the world at the Bangor Submarine Base 20 miles as the crow flies from Seattle. This makes Washington a prime target in any nuclear exchange. Even a small fraction of the current number of 12,119 nuclear weapons over a large city could trigger a nuclear winter resulting in global famine affecting billions of people and causing extensive environmental damage. Major defense contractor Boeing is a large manufacturer of nuclear weapons and delivery systems and is perhaps also a prime target.

More weapons does not equal deterrence

Trump’s 2025 playbook uses the myth that having large numbers of powerful nuclear weapons and first-strike delivery systems will deter their use. There are huge risks in thinking this way. It assumes that rationality exists on the part of decision-makers. However, decisions can be made from misperceptions, anger, insanity, revenge and pride, etc.

Once nuclear weapons are possessed, there are no guarantees that they won’t be used. Over the last 79 years, we have had the Cuban Missile Crisis and several false alarms, accidents, loss of weapons, theft, flocks of geese and faulty computer codes. It’s just plain dangerous to have these weapons around.

Several of our local officials have signed on to “Back from the Brink.” Bellingham City Council members Michael Lilliquist and Jace Cotton, as well as State Sen. Sharon Shewmake, have joined a group of over 80 cities and municipalities urging the federal government to negotiate with other nuclear-possessing states to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons.

Early in the Biden Administration, U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen signed on to a congressional letter urging the administration to reduce our reliance on nuclear weapons and to retire new weapons added by Donald Trump. However, it was not to be, and the military budget for 2025 is $850 billion with $100 billion for the nuclear arsenal.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Doomsday Clock shows how precarious and unstable our situation is. Money used for weapons is taken from all of us, up to $2 billion from Washington state alone. Redirecting our tax dollars to mitigate our other existential threat, climate change and toward the needs of the people is necessary.

Cindy Cole is a mother, grandmother and a citizen peace and labor activist. She lives in Bellingham and has been working on the issue of nuclear weapons and the military for over 20 years.