In an ongoing war of words with North Korea, the US President Donald Trump tweeted that his first order as president was to renovate and modernize the American nuclear arsenal, which is now stronger than ever before and added that Washington will never allow any nation to surpass US power. He also said that he hopes the US will never have to use its nuclear weapons. Here is the full tweet, “My first order as President was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before......Hopefully we will never have to use this power, but there will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world!”

While his comments was somewhat confirmed by a statement issued by the US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, who said, “President Trump was informed of the growing threat last December and on taking office his first orders to me emphasized the readiness of our ballistic missile defense and nuclear deterrent forces”, the President’s tweets are more of showboating rather than actual business.

After President Trump was inaugurated, it was noticed in various reports that due to decades of war and corruption, the US military strength remains severely depleted. About a third of US air force planes were not in conditions to operate in any mission and the nuclear arsenal remains of the past lacking modernization. It was also reported that defense secretary Jim Mattis was shocked at the level of low preparedness in U.S. forces. While President Trump may have ordered for better preparedness and modernization, it is a task that is not likely to get completed within just six months of Trump’s presidency.