Trump's acting national security adviser thinks nuclear war is winnable

Plus: The easy way to make THC vape pens safer No Images? Click here     By Nick Baumann "Nuclear war is a destructive thing but still in large part a physics problem." At least that's what Charles Kupperman, President Donald Trump's acting national security adviser, claimed in the 1980s as part of an argument that the United States could prevail in an all-out nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Nick Robins-Early broke that story this week for HuffPost, and we asked him about it.    How did this story come about? We did a story after Kupperman was made acting national security adviser about how he had served on the board of directors for an anti-Muslim think tank. [HuffPost Enterprise Editor] George Zornick suggested that we keep digging into Kupperman's past. I found that an arms control expert had mentioned months back that Kupperman had some extremely unusual views on nuclear war, then talked with editors about it and we decided to follow up on that angle.  What was the hardest thing about reporting, writing or editing this story? Finding and verifying the original source of old quotes is always time-consuming, since they usually get twisted or misattributed over the years. I went through a bunch of books and journals quoting Kupperman but without any proper attribution or context. Eventually I found the original interview was done for a book in 1982, but it wasn't available online or in any stores around town. The library had a copy in their research room, so I had to go through the process of getting that out of their stacks and confirming that he did indeed say those things — plus I ended up finding more horrifying stuff that we didn't previously know about. This guy's been in the Trump administration for a while. Why do you think this is only coming out now? I think a lot of these mid-level officials have sort of flown under the radar for most of their careers despite having associations with extremists or potentially disastrous beliefs. When there's more of spotlight on them after a promotion or big event then it begins to come out, but this was a good lesson that there's probably a lot of others like Kupperman already in the administration. What did you find that was most surprising? When I got a hold of the book with the original interview I found that there was a lot more material than had been quoted in other sources, including just incredibly callous and ill-informed statements about how Hiroshima was "back and operating three days later” after it was bombed and that with just a certain layer of dirt we'd be able to protect people from nuclear blasts. It was surprising not only to find those quotes, but that someone who held those beliefs was still kicking around and getting promotions.  What do you want readers to take away? I guess that we should be deeply skeptical of all of presidential appointees, even those that may seem like boring hangers-on or longtime bureaucrats. It turns out they may be the ones with views that could end up killing a bunch of people. READ THE STORY 🔥 More Must Reads 🔥 • Actually, Pete Buttigieg, September 12, 2001, Was Bad • There's An Easy Way To Make THC Vape Pens Safer • Even Saudi Arabia Thinks Trump Going To War With Iran Is A Bad Idea             👋You may have noticed our website is now www.huffpost.com. Don't worry, it'll still be the same HuffPost you know and love, just with a new URL. Make sure to update your bookmarks!   HuffPost is now a part of Verizon Media Group. On May 25, 2018 we introduced a new Privacy Policy which will explain how your data is used and shared. Learn More. The internet's best stories, and interviews with the people who tell them. Like what you see? Forward it to a friend. Or sign up! Can't get enough? Check out our Morning Email.   ©2019 HuffPost | 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 You are receiving this email because you signed up for updates from HuffPost. Feedback | Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe    . - - Preferences  |  Unsubscribe