04 Nov Nuclear Noise: Media Hysteria and the Real Meaning Behind Trump’s Testing Remarks
By,
LTC Octavio Pérez, US Army (Ret.), Co-Founder and Senior Fellow, MSI²
Another run-to-the-press moment, selective listening, and overreaction. Are we really going to restart nuclear testing?
A five-day trip, an impromptu press meeting aboard Air Force One—and off we go to the races. If you don’t know what it’s like to travel with Donald Trump on Air Force One, you’re in for a rude awakening. And yes, that’s a literal quote.
Stephen Miller’s wife once revealed to Laura Ingraham that her husband can’t sleep. Trump constantly wakes him up in the middle of the night, after a grueling day, to talk to staff and reporters on board. This has been corroborated by Anna Moneymaker from Getty Images. Even Kevin Liptak and CNN’s senior White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins have commented that it’s difficult to keep up with the president’s unusual sleep schedule—especially during long-haul flights.
And if the destination is Asia, “…you may not be able to sleep because he is always up and talking…”
Now, given this background, let’s analyze what the president actually said about restarting nuclear testing.
On Truth Social, he posted that he had instructed the Pentagon to start testing U.S. nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with Russia and China because of “other countries’ testing programs.” He added: “That process will begin immediately.” The post appeared just minutes before his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea.
Now let’s dive into the real part of the message: “…on an equal basis with Russia and China because of other countries’ testing programs.”
Trump did not specify which nuclear tests would resume. The only person who publicly came to his defense was Timothy Heath, a senior international defense researcher at the U.S.-based RAND Corporation. Heath clarified that Trump was most likely referring to missile test launches, which could be used to deliver nuclear weapons.
What have Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran been doing “on an equal basis”?
- Testing hypersonic missiles
- Testing ICBMs with gliding reentry vehicles
- Testing cruise missiles and torpedoes powered by nuclear engines
As recently as October 29, Vladimir Putin announced the successful test of the Poseidon nuclear torpedo. Just a week earlier, he was seen in camouflage fatigues supervising another test of the Burevestnik cruise missile, which also uses a nuclear propulsion system.
Recall the September 2024 news about a missile explosion in the Arctic Circle, near the Arkhangelsk region—another incident similar to one in August 2019, which killed five people and caused a brief radiation spike, possibly linked to the same Burevestnik system.
Add to that a failed September 2024 test of the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, which reportedly exploded during launch at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, causing significant damage to the launchpad.
Given this pattern, it becomes clearer what Trump was referring to. Combine that with China’s September 3 parade showcasing its newest weapons—and North Korea’s display of the Hwasong-20—and the context emerges.
A tired president, on a sleepless night, says something—and the press runs with it. It’s doubtful that the United States will detonate nuclear weapons again, whether underground, above ground, or via airbursts. The focus is on the delivery platforms used for nuclear weapons. The actual detonations were once conducted to calculate yield; today, flight tests of hypersonic missiles and gliding submunitions from MIRVs (Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicles) are far more relevant.
That’s where the technology race is happening. But for warmongers and critics, the sensationalist headline was too tempting to resist.
No, Virginia, there is no Santa Claus—and no, we are not testing nukes again.
References
BBC News. (2025, October 30). Trump directs nuclear weapons testing to resume for first time in over 30 years. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gzq2p0yk4o
Daily Beast. (2025, October 30). Stephen Miller’s wife admits he can’t sleep because Trump won’t let him. https://ca.news.yahoo.com/stephen-miller-wife-admits-t-155114619.html
Faulconbridge, G., & Rodionov, M. (2025, October 29). Russia tests nuclear-capable Poseidon super torpedo, Putin says. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/putin-says-russia-tested-poseidon-nuclear-capable-super-torpedo-2025-10-29/
Foreman, T. (2025, October 31). Trump says he wants to resume nuclear testing: Here’s why experts are confused. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/31/politics/trump-nuclear-weapons-testing-experts-russia
Hunnicutt, T., Shakil, I., & Singh, K. (2025, October 30). Trump tells Pentagon to resume testing U.S. nuclear weapons. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/trump-asks-pentagon-immediately-start-testing-us-nuclear-weapons-2025-10-30/
South China Morning Post. (2025, November 1). Will Trump’s call to resume nuclear testing fuel a U.S.–China arms race? https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3331115/will-trumps-call-resume-nuclear-testing-fuel-us-china-arms-race
UNILAD. (2025, October 8). CNN reporter reveals most annoying thing about traveling the globe with Trump after staffer said it “felt like being held captive.” https://www.unilad.com/news/us-news/donald-trump-travel-air-force-one-sleep-582326-20251008
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Miami Strategic Intelligence Institute (MSI²).