All Americans should be concerned about President-elect Donald J. Trump’s nonchalant attitude towards nuclear proliferation, and development. Trump recently declared the United States should expand its nuclear arsenal – via Twitter, of course. Trump seems to be either flirting with the idea of nuclear annihilation, or quite simply ignorant of the vast nuclear arsenal America has accumulated over the years.

This pronouncement came hours after Russian president Vladimir Putin called on Russia to strengthen its own nuclear arsenal. During his presidential campaign, it should be noted, Trump asked why the United States couldn’t use nuclear weapons – scary.

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Trump appears to be ending decades of efforts on reducing the role of nuclear weapons in American defense policy. This is dramatic reversal from previous administrations. For decades, presidents since President Richard Nixon have reduced America’s nuclear stockpile. There is a reasoning behind this.

During the Eisenhower administration, nuclear weapons were seen as critical to national security interests. The administration looked to nuclear weapons as a way reduce military expenditures. Even with the 90 percent taxation rates on the wealthiest of Americans, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his Cabinet believed he could scale back the bloated military with an increased American dependency on nuclear weapons.

Also, the ensuing Arms Race made acquisition of nuclear weapons that more important. Eisenhower’s New Look policy essentially blurred the lines between conventional, and nuclear weapons. At one point, Eisenhower was criticized by then Democratic Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy for the alleged "missile gap" that was believed to exist between the United States, and Russia.

With the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, Americans realized MAD wasn’t just an abstract theory, it was a potent reality. This led President John F. Kennedy, and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev adopted The Limited Test Ban Treaty in 1963. Since then, the official policy of the United States has been to seek ways to reduce or limit the amount of nuclear weapons in circulation.

Mr. Trump seems to want the best of both worlds. Unlike President Eisenhower, Trump wants to increase military spending, and now, with this latest disturbing declaration, increase America’s nuclear capability. This is at a time when the military budget is bloated beyond Eisenhower’s wildest dreams. The United States spending more than the next seven other nations combined.

Why does the United States need more nuclear weapons? The United States has the ability to nearly destroy the entire world several times over. The United States and Russia have approximately 7,000 nuclear weapons a piece, 90 percent of the nuclear weapons in the world.

Other countries in the nuclear club combined have fewer nuclear weapons than either the United States or Russia. That hasn't stopped Mr. Trump from endorsing nuclear proliferation. During his presidential campaign, Mr. Trump said he wouldn’t have any issue if countries like Japan, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea acquired nuclear weapons.

This simple, yet ambiguous Tweet has the potential to cause an arms race. In 1984, in a leaked video broadcast, President Ronald Reagan faced some stringent criticism when he joked about bombing Russia “in five minutes.” This statement significantly alarmed nuclear armed Russia.

However, with this case, Mr. Trump haphazardly announced America's nuclear ambitions to the world on social media. This is serious business. More striking, no one knows who or what Mr. Trump is talking about.

Russia has reciprocated the willingness to enhance its own military capability – terrifying. Russia is an unstable country, and thanks to American led sanctions, its economy is in tatters. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, one of America’s largest concern was ensuring Russia’s nuclear stockpile didn’t fall into enemy hands. A larger arsenal means much more nukes to be concerned about.

Mr. Trump is doing something no president-elect in contemporary modern history has done; undercut a sitting President. On matters of foreign policy, America has to communicate with one, coherent message to the rest of the world. That voice typically that of the sitting President. This latest announcement is a stark reversal over incumbent President Barack Obama Barack Hussein ObamaThe Memo: Trump's strengths complicate election picture Obama shares phone number to find out how Americans are planning to vote Democrats' troubling adventure in a 'Wonderland' without 'rule of law' MORE’s stance on nuclear weapons. In the Czech Republic, President Obama loudly pronounced his support of a world free of nuclear weapons.

The American people and the rest of the world have a right to be concerned. This isn’t reality television show. Mr. Trump’s actions have long range implication especially when it comes to nuclear weapons. His simple ‘Tweets’ are no longer simply Tweets; they can influence the leaders of foreign countries, and challenge historical norms. Mr. Trump speaks for the United States whenever he opens his mouth even on Twitter now.

During the presidential campaign, a number of critics pointed out Mr. Trump is unfit to have his finger on the trigger of American’s vast nuclear arsenal. After his latest pronouncement on social media, he may have a ton of nuclear weapons, and then some. Trump is truly a nuclear nightmare.

Matt Fecteau (Matthew.Fecteau@gmail.com) of Pawtucket, Rhode Island was a Democratic congressional candidate in 2014. He is a former White House national security intern and Iraq war veteran.

The views expressed by authors are their own and not the views of The Hill.