Ironically I spent an hour watching a documentary on this very same subject a couple days ago. There are very specific scenarios where the president can launch a nuke solely on his own. Basically its in retaliation of a nuclear attack on the US or nukes are believed to be in flight towards the US and its a response. At the point he can give the order and you can't technically stop it. All other scenarios require a gang of MFs to go along with the plan
None of that matters because once a single nuke is launched, every nuke is being launched.
There is no such thing as diplomacy. These nuclear systems worldwide are built to act without it.
The US could launch 1 nuke at Russia, apologize immediately, and Russia could even accept it and try to go along.
Doesn't mean shyt, it's like a circuit breaker. It will trigger their nuclear response system and every nuke will be sent towards every major US city.
Then the US nuclear circuit breaker will flip, sending every nuke at Russia.
Then China's will flip until this world is nothing but a barren wasteland.
Until every nuke on the planet is launched.
When you think about shyt like this...
Think about your young children, if you have any, eyes popping out of their fukking skulls after being boiled in their heads in just a split second.
That is how serious that shyt is.