Trump Warns 'Monster' Nukes Are The 'Greatest' Threat To Humanity: 'It's Probably The End Of The World'

President Donald Trump warned that "monster" nuclear bombs, and not climate change, pose the biggest threat for humanity at the moment, adding that they could "end the world" almost instantly.

Speaking to Fox News, Trump said the greatest threat is "sitting on shelves in various countries called 'nuclear weapons' that are big monsters that can blow your heads off for miles and miles and miles."

Trump then lamented the large amounts of money that need to be spent to maintain them, saying "it's just bad that you have to spend all this money on something that if it's used, it's probably the end of the world."

"They talk about the climate and they talk about the dangers of the climate but they don't talk about the dangers of a nuclear weapon, which could happen tomorrow," the president added, rejecting that climate change is the biggest threat humanity faces.

Trump has also warned that China, which holds the largest nuclear stockpile after Russia and the United States, will likely catch up within the decade. And said he wants to restart arms control talks with the countries: "You could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and they're building nuclear weapons."

Despite the warning, the U.S.'s handling of nuclear weapons made headlines last month after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, abruptly terminated hundreds of nuclear weapons specialists at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)—only to scramble to bring them back days later.

The warning also comes as the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved in January its iconic Doomsday Clock the closest its ever been to midnight—just 89 seconds away.

The move of the clock, a symbolic measure of how close humanity is to catastrophe, was attributed to mounting global threats including nuclear proliferation, climate change, geopolitical instability, and the integration of artificial intelligence in military operations.

"When you are at this precipice, the one thing you don't want to do is take a step forward," said Daniel Holz, chair of the group's science and security board.

The Bulletin highlighted growing concerns over nuclear programs in countries like North Korea, Russia, and China, and raised alarms about Russian President Vladimir Putin's threats to use nuclear weapons amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

"A lot of the rhetoric is very disturbing," Holz said. "There is this growing sense that ... some nation might end up using nuclear weapons, and that's terrifying."

Other risks, including climate inaction, instability in the Middle East, and the lingering threat of pandemics, also played a role in advancing the clock.

The Doomsday Clock, created in 1947, has been adjusted over the years to reflect humanity's proximity to self-destruction. After the Cold War, it stood as far as 17 minutes to midnight. In recent years, it has been measured in seconds to underscore the accelerating pace of existential threats.

The Bulletin emphasized that the clock's hands can be moved back, but doing so will require world leaders to respond to global threats with urgency. As it stands, the group warns that humanity remains at its most vulnerable point in history.