Finger on the button: should Trump's nuclear weapons access be restricted?

US congressmen are proposing a bill to restrict President Trump's access to nuclear weapons. As 'chaotic' as he may be, is this fair or rational?

As humans, we all make irrational decisions throughout the course of our lives, which have the potential for long-term consequences. We might drink too much or smoke. Perhaps, if we are millennials, we go for brunch instead of saving for a house. However, most of us do not have adequate power for the consequences of our irrationality to have wide-reaching impacts. Perhaps one of the hardest choices that the leader of a nuclear state can make is that of starting a nuclear war.

Donald Trump wrote in his book The Art of the Deal that "a little hyperbole never hurt", a mantra he has employed adeptly throughout his short and explosive political career. From suggesting that Obama and Hillary founded Isis, to insisting that he has big hands, Trump repeatedly makes irrational and unsubstantiated statements on his mission to Make America Great Again. However, few would accuse him of irrationality when he admitted last week that receiving the nuclear codes was "very, very, very scary". Few might disagree. With his access to the nuclear button and the US arsenal of 975 nuclear warheads, small hands could one day cause big problems.