Trump is tweeting about strengthening US nuclear capability and everyone is freaking out

Impact

Donald Trump, the man said to have repeatedly asked a foreign policy expert why the United States cannot use its nuclear weapons, tweeted on Thursday that the U.S. "must greatly strengthen" its nuclear capability.

During his campaign for president, Trump made a number of questionable statements regarding nuclear weapons, including that he would "maybe" use nukes and that it was important to be "unpredictable" with them.

On Twitter, journalist Sarah Kendzior noted that Trump's tweet came shortly after a similar statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Some on Twitter worried that Trump's tweet marked the beginning of an arms race.

The United States has 7,100 nuclear weapons. Russia has 7,300.