Cold Open
I just heard the duly-elected President of these United States... Donald J. Trump... brag about dropping the atom bomb. On Hiroshima.
My god.
Steven Colbert? Jon Stewart...?
Once, these guys were subversive... were daring. But...
But with troops still in the California streets and missiles in Mid-Eastern air...
Haven't comedians become nauseatingly... tone dead?
When the Comedy stops being funny…
We're in deep shit. Especially anybody different. Like, say… autistics..
[music theme]
Intro
You’re listening to Trigger Warnings, episode 2 … a new project of AutisticAF Out Loud podcast.
I'm Johnny Profane. Your fiercely divergent guide to what's actually happening in the news.
Gimme 10 minutes? I'll give you my neurodivergent world.
Today: “Not Everything's Funny: Colbert, Trump .. & Hiroshima.” Military deployments in two cities, Constitutional challenges mounting, and one burning question: Are we witnessing democratic norms under assault in real time? And trying to just laugh it off?
For an ever deeper dive, I’ve included footnotes and readings in the subStack.
Content Note: civil unrest, military deployment, law enforcement actions, concerns about democratic institutions + experiences & opinions of one autistic voice... in my 70s.
[music theme]
Show
Act 1: The Unprecedented Break
I just heard the duly-elected President of these United States... Donald J. Trump... brag about dropping the atom bomb. On Hiroshima.[1]
At a NATO summit.
In front of the world.
My god.
Let me tell you what just happened. Because the News? They aren't "reporting" just how fucked up this really is.
[music freedom, 8 bars]
No President Has Ever Done This
Since the guy who dropped those bombs in 1945…
Harry Truman…
stopped defending his decision…
cuz he stopped being president in 1952.
No American president since… has dared… brag about Hiroshima. Or Nagasaki.[2]
Not one.
You know why? Because even the worst of them understood something. Those bombs killed 200,000 people.[3] Mostly civilians. Women. Children. Grandparents.
Even Eisenhower…
the guy American history class says
won World War II…
Even he said the bombing "never ceased troubling me." He called it completely unnecessary.[4]
Obama visited Hiroshima in 2016.[5] He didn't apologize. But he didn't brag either.
Reagan talked about nuclear weapons. But he said "a nuclear war can never be won."[6]
Every president since Truman understood this was serious shit. Sacred ground. You don't joke around about vaporizing cities.
Not Trump.
He's bragging. Comparing his conventional strikes to atomic bombs. Like it's a video game.
"We have the best nuclear technology," he said. "The best equipment in the world."
Like… nuclear weapons were toys.
[music]
Trump Just Shattered “Normal”
Yesterday at the NATO summit in The Hague, Trump compared his strikes on Iran to Hiroshima.
His exact words: "I don't want to use an example of Hiroshima. I don't want to use the example of Nagasaki, that was essentially the same thing. That ended that war, this ended this war."[7]
He was bragging. Bragging about nuclear destruction. Like a fucking business deal.
"That hit ended the war," he said. Chest puffed out. Proud as hell.
This is what we've come to. The President casually referencing the incineration of 200,000 humans… as a model for current policy.
At an international summit.
On camera.With full makeup.
[music 8 bars, freedom]
You know social media… if you take a sec to hit subscribe, like, share? A lot more people will check it out. Just one click… and you do a lotta good.
[music, freedom]
The Comedy Problem
How are we supposed to respond? Where's the outrage?
In other words, where are the comedians? Most Gen Z-ers and younger get their news from late night comedy shows.[8]
Colbert will try out a "new" joke tonight. Stewart will do his smirk. They'll treat this like another Trump gaffe they can mine for laughs.[9]
But it's not funny anymore.
Once, these guys were subversive... were daring. But...
Haven’t they become nauseatingly... tone dead?
You can't satirize someone who's already become a parody of human decency. Someone the scriptures of all major religions would label simply… evil?
Bragging about mass murder... what the fuck is left to mock?
Comedy works when there's a shared understanding of normal. When people have shame. When some lines… you just don't cross.
But Trump crossed the biggest. With a smile. Not one objection from a room full of reporters. Just brief sneers from a TV full of comedians.
So, Canary-in-the-coal-mine time….
When the Comedy stops being funny…
We're in deep shit. Especially anyone different. Like, say… autistics…
[music]
Why This Matters
This isn't about politics. Left or right.
This is about what kind of country we are.
For 80 years, American presidents understood that Hiroshima was different. Special. Unspeakable.[10]
They might defend it…quickly, quietly. Say, “It saved lives.” Then quickly, move on.
They understood Power comes with burdens… responsibility, accountability, humanity. That killing 200,000 people isn't something you do a victory spike over.
Trump doesn't understand that weight.
Or worse... he doesn't care.
Ya, know, worse yet? Maybe he does care. About the bullying power that his brutish remarks burn into the world's memory.
[music]
Act 2: When Institutions Fail
With troops still in the California streets, missiles in Mid-Eastern skies… and a Bully-in-Chief in the pulpit…
Comedy… and art… fall silent.
Corporate News? Well it talks… too much. But it just isn’t saying anything. They don’t cover reality anymore. They've been cowed into repeating Administration lies… through shell-shocked faces.
When the President of the United States casually references nuclear genocide...
and we fear he might just use them sometime …
within the next two weeks…
like all of his jokes…
that become threats…
that become promises kept to his base…
Our cultural tools break down.
We don't have frameworks for this.
We have jokes for corrupt politicians. For liars. For cheaters. That subversive humor can shed a light into Democratic or Republican darkness. Through a shared giggle.
But jokes about dropping nukes?
They’re just distractions. Like…
witty comebacks,
really killer memes, and
the occasional truly thoughtful opinion piece
in the New York Times.
[music]
What We're Really Facing
This is what authoritarianism starts like.[11] Not jackboots and death squads.
Just a man who thinks mass murder… is something to celebrate. A man who doesn't understand why some folks might find that disturbing.
The scariest part? He said this at NATO. To our allies.
Heard round the world. By any country that remembers World War II. What nuclear weapons actually do.
Like say, Japan.
[music]
Are the Democrats' the Alternative?
The political opposition? They're not exactly rising to the moment. What the fuck are Democrats doing?[12]
Running the same playbook they've used since Hillary lost.
"We're the adults in the room."
"At least we're not Trump. Vote for us because we're not insane."
"You just wait for the midterms… oh, boy. We really got him now."
We need more than just "At least, we're not that guy."
You need to explain why this is fucking terrifying.
Wait… Forget all that.
Say as little as absolutely necessary.
Just fucking act already.
[music]
Where We Are Now
So here we are. And we're all supposed to pretend this is normal.
It's not normal.
It's not funny.
And it's not sustainable. Maybe not survivable.
[music]
The Truth
Trump just told the world that he thinks nuclear destruction is a deal-making path… worth aspiring to. :Proudly.
That's not politics. That's not even partisanship.
That's a fundamental break with human decency.
And if we can't say that out loud... if we can't admit how fucked up this is...
We're already lost.
[music AutisticAF Out Loud theme]
Outro
This has been Trigger Warnings: Fiercely Divergent News. Reminding you we navigate a world that wasn't built for us Neurodivergents… and it may be time… to build our own.
Another warning sign that, ya know… human decency? All bets are off.
Which doesn’t bode well for anybody who is different.
Next week? 10 more minutes of my neurodivergent world. Until then, take care of your beautiful pattern-seeking, divergent brain.
And… stay safe? Stay fierce.
Binge on the most authentic autistic voice in podcasting.
7 decades of raw truth, real insights, zero yadayada.
Footnotes
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-hiroshima-nagasaki-iran_n_685bf52ee4b024434f988a73
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hit-ended-war-trump-likens-iran-strikes-hiroshima-bombing
[2]: While President Truman initially called the atomic bomb "the greatest thing in history" aboard his ship returning from Potsdam, his public statements were more measured, describing it as "a harnessing of the basic power of the universe".
Truman defended the decision but stopped discussing it publicly after leaving office. No subsequent president has publicly celebrated or bragged about the atomic bombings until Trump's 2025 remarks.
https://www.nps.gov/articles/trumanatomicbomb.htm
[3]: Death toll estimates for the atomic bombings vary significantly. The Manhattan Engineer District initially estimated 105,000 total deaths (66,000 in Hiroshima, 39,000 in Nagasaki) by end of 1945. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons estimates 140,000 in Hiroshima and 74,000 in Nagasaki by end of 1945. Methodological challenges include destroyed records, uncertain pre-bombing populations, and radiation-related deaths over time.
https://www.atomicarchive.com/resources/documents/med/med_chp10.html
[4]: Eisenhower expressed his "grave misgivings" about the atomic bombing in his memoir, stating he believed "Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary." He also noted his concern that the U.S. "should avoid shocking world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives."
Critics note this was a post-war reflection written nearly two decades later, not a contemporaneous military assessment.
[5]: Obama visited Hiroshima in May 2016, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to do so. He spoke of the "silent cry" of victims and called for nuclear disarmament while carefully avoiding any apology, stating: "We stand here in the middle of this city and force ourselves to imagine the moment the bomb fell... we listen to a silent cry".
[6]: Reagan's famous statement "A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought" was delivered in his 1984 State of the Union address, reflecting his commitment to nuclear deterrence while pursuing arms reduction with the Soviet Union.
[7]: Trump's exact words at the NATO summit on June 25, 2025: "I don't want to use an example of Hiroshima. I don't want to use an example of Nagasaki, but that was essentially the same thing that ended that war, this ended this war"[4].
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hit-ended-war-trump-likens-iran-strikes-hiroshima-bombing
This represents the first time a U.S. president has compared current military actions to the atomic bombings in a celebratory manner.
[8]: Research indicates late-night political comedy shows serve as significant news sources, particularly for younger demographics. "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" averaged 8.7% viewership share in 2024, reaching approximately 281,000 viewers in the 18-49 demographic nightly[15][16].
https://screenrant.com/stephen-colbert-ratings-late-show-2024-explained/
https://screenrant.com/stephen-colbert-ratings-late-show-2024-explained/
Studies suggest these programs have the most impact on politically inattentive audiences who learn about politics inadvertently through satirical content.
[9]: Following Trump's Iran strikes, Colbert addressed the actions through his typical comedic framework, with segments like "Trump's Weird Iran War Speech" and jokes about intelligence reports contradicting Trump's claims of "obliteration." Colbert quipped "Oops-a-nuke-y" regarding reports that Iran's nuclear capabilities remained largely intact.
https://www.tvinsider.com/1199026/stephen-colbert-trump-f-bomb-rant-monologue-video/
[10]: The concept of a "nuclear taboo"—an international norm against the use of nuclear weapons—has been maintained since 1945. Political scientist Nina Tannenwald defines this as "a de facto prohibition against the first use of nuclear weapons" that creates a shared understanding of the illegitimacy and immorality of nuclear weapons use[18].
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_taboo
Trump's comparison breaks this longstanding presidential restraint.
[11]: Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt identify four markers of authoritarian risk: rejecting democratic rules, denying opponent legitimacy, tolerating violence, and curtailing civil liberties. They argue Trump is the first U.S. politician since the Civil War to meet all four criteria19.
Constitutional scholar Elaine Scarry argues nuclear weapons create "thermonuclear monarchy" by concentrating unprecedented destructive power in executive hands, fundamentally undermining democratic governance.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/thermonuclear-monarchy-elaine-scarry/1111087819
https://futureoflife.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Elaine_Scarry_MIT_April2.pdf
[12]: Democratic responses to Trump's Iran strikes showed internal divisions. House No. 2 Democrat Katherine Clark called the strikes "unauthorized & unconstitutional," while Senator Chris van Hollen argued they violated congressional war powers. However, critics note Democratic presidents have similarly bypassed Congress for military actions, weakening their constitutional arguments[22][23].
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/us-bombs-iran-attacks-trump-constitution-rcna214580
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/23/politics/trump-iran-legal-constitutional-article-1-article-2
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