1. United States
2. Iowa
3. Letter

A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER: Nuclear Recklessness, Presidential Instability, and the Demand for Congressional Action   I am one of your constituents, and I am scared. Not in an abstract, political way — I mean genuinely frightened about the safety of this country and the world my family lives in. I am writing because I need to know that you are paying attention and that you are willing to do something about it. I need a real answer from you within 14 days — not a form letter, not a canned response. A real answer. What I am going to lay out for you is not opinion or partisan spin. It is a series of events and statements — many of them from the President's own mouth, on camera — that I believe any reasonable person, regardless of party, should find deeply alarming. He Does Not Understand What He Is Talking About — and That Is the Problem Last October, President Trump got on Air Force One and announced to the country that we were going to resume nuclear weapons testing — because Russia and China were doing it, so we should too. That statement alone should have set off alarm bells everywhere. But here is the part that really troubled me: what Russia and China were actually testing were nuclear-capable delivery systems and propulsion technology. Not nuclear warheads. Not nuclear detonations. Defense analysts have explained this clearly and publicly. The President either did not understand the difference or did not care. And this was not just a slip of the tongue. He kept saying it — over and over, for weeks. He called on the Pentagon to begin a nuclear testing program. His own Under Secretary of State for Arms Control then had to go before Congress and admit that the administration had made no decisions and was still trying to figure out what any of this would even look like. Think about that. The President orders nuclear testing. His own arms control official has no idea what that means. That is not strength. That is a man in over his head, making statements he does not understand, and leaving everyone else to clean up the mess. His Words Have Already Made the World More Dangerous This is not just an embarrassment. It has real consequences. Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations stood up in November 2025 and called Trump's nuclear testing comments 'a serious statement,' warning that Russia would prepare to respond accordingly. The Kremlin's own spokesman said that if the United States deviates from the testing moratorium, Russia will act in kind. We came this close to reigniting a nuclear arms race — because the President of the United States did not understand what he was looking at and started talking before he was briefed. I want you to sit with that for a moment. We are not talking about a bad tweet or an awkward press conference. We are talking about statements that moved nuclear-armed governments to issue formal warnings. Words from the Oval Office carry weight in the world whether the person saying them understands that or not. The Nuclear Codes Allegation Cannot Be Ignored There are reports — sourced to a former CIA analyst — that during an emergency White House meeting, President Trump attempted to access the nuclear codes and was blocked by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine. I want to be honest with you: these reports have not been independently confirmed. I am not asking you to treat them as established fact. I am asking you to treat them as exactly what they are — a serious allegation about the most consequential set of weapons on earth, made during a period of documented erratic behavior by the Commander in Chief. That alone demands an investigation. If it is not true, prove it. If it is true, the American people have a right to know. The Iran Situation Is Equally Alarming I have watched the President announce a peace framework with Iran and then threaten to obliterate the country within the same news cycle. I watched him suggest, on camera, that the United States and Iran would work together to dig up enriched uranium with excavators. Former National Security Advisor John Bolton — not exactly a liberal critic — has said publicly that Iran's negotiators can see panic in the White House and that Trump is handing them leverage they should not have. That is not coming from the opposition. That is coming from one of the most hawkish national security voices this country has produced. We Are Already Living With the Consequences I think it is worth remembering that we are not just talking about what might happen. Some of the damage is already done. When Trump walked away from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, foreign policy experts warned that it would signal to other countries that deals with the United States cannot be trusted. North Korea heard that signal. They built their nuclear arsenal while Trump was in office, and now they test ballistic missiles routinely and openly call themselves a nuclear power. That is the real-world result of this kind of reckless, impulsive leadership — and it does not undo itself. What I Am Asking You to Do I am not a policy expert. I am a person who lives in your district, pays taxes, and votes. And I am asking you — plainly — to do the following: 1.  Investigate the nuclear codes incident. Open or support a formal congressional inquiry. Find out what happened. The American people deserve the truth. 2.  Get a briefing on nuclear safeguards. Demand that the Pentagon and Joint Chiefs brief Congress on the current state of nuclear command authority and what protections are in place. 3.  Use the tools the Constitution gave you. If the 25th Amendment applies, use it. If impeachment is warranted, pursue it. If legislation can limit the President's ability to act unilaterally on nuclear weapons, pass it. Do something. 4.  Tell me where you stand. Put out a public statement. Tell your constituents what you believe and what you are willing to do about it. We deserve to know. I know you are busy. I know there is a lot happening. But I need you to understand that this is not one issue among many for me right now — this is the issue. The safety of this country, and the question of whether the person with his finger on the nuclear button is fit to be there, is not something I can set aside and come back to later. Please respond to this letter within 14 days with a specific, substantive answer. I will be sharing whatever I hear — or do not hear — with my neighbors and my community. This is too important to let go unanswered.