Politics

Kirsten Gillibrand Weapons Gaffe: “Tactile” Nuke

We seem to have a plethora of 2020 candidates who are not only in over their heads, they have no clue about how anything works…including the weapons of war. Kirsten Gillibrand is a big case in point. During a recent interview, she invented a new nuclear weapon: the “tactile” nuke.

gillibrand silencer
Gillibrand (Vimeo)

Tactile?

“When you say you want to develop low-yield nuclear weapons that are tactile, what you’re saying is you want to use them. Now, the military will make an argument to say, ‘Oh, this is just a gain to make, we have to have an equal threat. And this, if it’s usable, then it’s a better threat.’ I just found that is not believable. So I opposed the entire defense bill because of that one provision. So if I am president, I am going to make sure we unwind that completely, and I don’t think we should be trying to create tactile nuclear weapons.” Kirsten Gillibrand

  • Tactile: connected to the sense of touch
  • Tactical: relating to or constituting actions carefully planned to gain a specific military end.

The “touchy, feely” kind of nuke. Perhaps it was just her inability to pronounce words properly. Phonetics, Ms. Gillibrand. Phonetics. At any rate, it was wrong. Hilarious, but wrong.

Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?

When the clip of her saying “tactile nuclear weapons” was played to John Bolton, he burst into laughter.

“Tactile nuclear weapons? …
But I’ll just say maybe Sen. Gillibrand could give me a call and tell me what she knows about those tactile nuclear weapons. I’d be interested in learning it.” John Bolton        (Washington Examiner)

The sad part of this is that Ms. Gillibrand is supposedly running for President and appears to be without even a basic knowledge of the topic she’s talking about.

What is a “Tactical Nuclear Weapon”

Let’s look at the concept of a “tactical nuclear weapon,” (TNW). Defense One reported,

“… if fighting broke out between NATO forces and Russia, Moscow would move quickly to use a tactical nuclear weapon. The assumption would be that the U.S., armed only with large, world-ending strategic weapons, would be unable to retaliate appropriately and essentially stand down in the face of Russian aggression. Hence, the need for smaller nuclear weapons which could match Russia if need be.”

A “tactical nuclear weapon,” or nonstrategic weapon, is usually defined as short range missiles with a range of less than 300 miles and air- and sea-launched weapons with a range of less than 400 miles. France and China tend to define the term as all nuclear weapons, long or short range. They are not well-regulated within current treaties.

There is most certainly a big difference between “tactile” and “tactical.”

H/T Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children

Related:

If you haven’t checked out and liked our Facebook page, please go here and do so.  You can also follow us on Twitter at @co_firing_line.  Please be sure to check out our MeWe page here and check us out at ProAmerica Only here.

If you appreciate independent conservative reports like this, please go here and support us on Patreon and get your conservative pro-Trump gear here.

And while you’re at it, be sure to check out our friends at Whatfinger News, the Internet’s conservative front-page founded by ex-military!

Faye Higbee

Faye Higbee is the columnist manager for Uncle Sam's Misguided Children. She has been writing at Conservative Firing Line since 2013 as well. She is also a published author.

Related Articles

Our Privacy Policy has been updated to support the latest regulations.Click to learn more.×