Nuclear anomalies

Another intriguing inauguration anomaly:

Donald Trump’s decision to shun Joe Biden’s inauguration has caused serious logistical problems for perhaps the most sensitive section of the presidential handover: the nuclear codes. During a normal inauguration ceremony, the nuclear football, which contains the equipment the president uses to authenticate his orders and launch a nuclear strike, is handed over from one presidential aide to another at the stroke of noon.

Trump will leave Washington DC at around 8am, however, and fly to his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago. As president, he will take the nuclear football with him.

Stephen Schwartz, a nonresident senior fellow at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, told CNN that the officials involved would have had to come up with an elaborate work-around. ‘There are at least three to four identical ‘footballs’: one follows the president, one follows the vice president, and one traditionally is set aside for the designated survivor at events like inaugurations and State of the Union addresses,’ he said. ‘On 20 January, the extra footballs will be out of town somewhere with their designees, leaving just Mike Pence’s briefcase unless the White House Military Office has prepared (or already has on hand) another backup for Mr Biden.’

The Constitution gives Trump control of nuclear attacks until the very second that Biden is sworn in.

Curiouser and curiouser….