Since there is no mechanism in the USA to stop President Trump from launching a nuke, what is the chance of it happening?

There is a mechanism. He can't do it by himself. It requires the approval of another person, usually the Secretary of Defense, who holds a second and equally necessary set of codes. Also, the president doesn't personally launch them. The military might disobey the order if it constituted a war crime, such as striking first on a civilian population.

Another answer: Based on past history there is about an 8.3% chance of President Trump launching a nuke.

How do I get to that figure? Well only 12 U.S. Presidents have had the capability to launch a nuclear attack. 1 U.S. President has exercised that power.

Of course, if we start taking into account the total number of world leaders who have had the power to personally launch a nuclear attack then the probability is much more difficult to calculate. With 7 other nations admitting to hold nuclear weapons (Russia, China, France, UK, Pakistan, India & North Korea) and 1 nation unilaterally recognised to hold them (Israel) and South Africa who have held them but have now decommisioned them. Several NATO countries share weapons but one assumes that they are not under control of a single person.

So if we take 8 other countries who have had on average 8 leaders each ( I suspect the US policy of 8 year maximum terms give the US a higher than average number of leaders) then we get 76 leaders who could have launched nukes and still only 1 who has used them in anger.

So we are down to about a 1.3% chance of Trump being the next leader to kick things off.

Source: https://www.quora.com/Since-there-is-no-mechanism-in-the-USA-to-stop-President-Trump-from-launching-a-nuke-what-is-the-chance-of-it-happening

Neteller here: www..com.ng

Its not as easy as you think. Decisions like that will have to go through many processes and many approvals.

UrennaNkoli:
Its not as easy as you think. Decisions like that will have to go through many processes and many approvals.

WRONG!!! Trump, by the US Constitution is empowered to order a nuclear attack on another country. Commander-In-Chief of the US Armed Forces means exactly what it says.

This is why I laugh when I see folks supporting Trump. They're basically handing over their lives to an unstable guy.

Yea.......trump can't just trigger a nuclear bomb,its about 3 people in U.S that have the nuclear codes and they need each others code to trigger it.Obama used this nuclear code impulsive triggering as a campaign tactic to discredit Trump.

DONALD TRUMP AND THE NUCLEAR CODES


The Economist


IN A ritual out of sight of the cameras on Inauguration Day in January, America’s “nuclear briefcase” will change hands and President Donald Trump will receive a card, sometimes known as the “biscuit”. The card, which identifies him as commander-in-chief, has on it the nuclear codes that are used to authenticate an order to launch a nuclear attack. At that point, should he wish, Mr Trump can launch any or all of America’s 2,000 strategic nuclear missiles.

There are no constitutional restraints on his power to do so. Even if all his advisers have counselled against it, as long it is clearly the president giving the command, the order must be carried out. There are no checks and balances in the system. Moreover, once the order is given there is likely to be only a matter of minutes in which it could be rescinded. Once the missiles are flying, they cannot be called back or disarmed. Mr Trump, from what he has said, does not take this responsibility lightly. Indeed, he has often stated that he believes nuclear weapons to represent the greatest threat to humanity and that he will not be trigger-happy, “like some people might think”. But in common with his predecessors, he does not rule out their use.

With little more than ten minutes to take a decision that could kill hundreds of millions of people, even the calmest individual would be under intolerable stress if informed that America was under imminent attack. It is not Mr Trump’s fault that the system, in which the vulnerable land-based missile force is kept on hair-trigger alert, is widely held to be inherently dangerous. Yet no former president, including Barack Obama, has done anything to change it.

Of greater concern would be how Mr Trump might behave in an escalating confrontation if Russia were to rattle its nuclear sabre even more loudly. It is possible that his apparent desire to be buddies with Vladimir Putin might help defuse a dangerous situation. He is, however, notoriously thin-skinned and unable to stop himself responding to any perceived slight with vicious (verbal) attacks of his own. He also revels in braggadocio and is known to be reluctant to take advice. Marco Rubio, a rival for the Republican nomination, questioned whether he had the temperament to be put in charge of the nuclear codes. So did Hillary Clinton. They were right to do so. But it is now Mr Trump, not them, who takes the biscuit.

http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21709999-mr-trump-will-soon-control-americas-nuclear-codes-donald-trump-and-nuclear-codes