It took Donald Trump 18 months and a presidential campaign to flip flop on nuclear weapons.

On Thursday president-elect Donald Trump made a strident announcement with regard to nuclear weapons.

He did this via Twitter - now not uncommon as a method for Trump to announce policies that reverse decades of international status quo.

It implied he was in favour of nuclear proliferation.

Clarifying with MSNBC journalist Mika Brzezinski, Trump reportedly said:

Let it be an arms race.

The restriction of nuclear weapons for the sake of humankind has been a large factor in Russo-American relations.

The Cold War was so named for never becoming a "hot" war in which nuclear weapons were used.

Inevitably, someone has found a prior statement by president-elect Trump conflicting with his most recent.

The tweet (inevitably) says he thinks nuclear weapons are worse than the threat of global warming.

His opponents might argue that Trump, now elected, is himself a "crazy or incompetent leader".

The statement was made just over 18 months ago, and one year before he announced he would be running for president.

While his earlier statement appeared to see their use as a threat, now he wants the US to engage in an arms race that could prompt other leaders build more nuclear weapons.

Picture: (Statista)

On 20 January, Trump is sworn into the Oval Office and is handed the keys to the @POTUS Twitter account.