I’ve got a VIP post that you should read this afternoon that focuses on Elon Musk’s attempts to avoid Armageddon. If you don’t subscribe, please do. It will help HotAir keep publishing until Joe Biden gets us all blown up.

In this post I will argue the obvious, though: every single one of us should be focused on avoiding Armageddon, because I am afraid that we are waltzing our way to the end of civilization.

Let’s set the stage: Joe Biden casually dropped a bomb at a fundraiser. Not a nuclear bomb…yet…but quite a bombshell:

The world is facing a nuclear Armageddon. We are at the deadliest point in human history since the Cuban Missile Crisis. This warning comes from the President of the United States at a fundraiser. Great place to drop the news, Joe.

BREAKING: President Biden said the risk of nuclear “Armageddon” is at its highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, as Russian officials speak of the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons after suffering massive setbacks in Ukraine. https://t.co/r6A6wmnSgl

— The Associated Press (@AP) October 7, 2022

President Joe Biden is declaring that the risk of nuclear “Armageddon” is at the highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, as Russian officials speak of using tactical nuclear weapons after suffering massive setbacks in the eight-month invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking at a Democratic fundraiser, Biden said Thursday night that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “a guy I know fairly well” and the Russian leader is “not joking when he talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons.”

Biden added, “We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis.” He suggested the threat from Putin is real “because his military is — you might say — significantly underperforming.”

U.S. officials for months have warned of the prospect that Russia could use weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine as it has faced strategic setbacks on the battlefield, though Biden’s remarks marked the starkest warnings yet by the U.S. government about the nuclear stakes.

Personally I am not pleased with this. How about you? I am not pleased with the prospect of a nuclear war, and I am also not pleased that the first people to hear this are a bunch of high rollers at a rubber chicken dinner. Expect some private planes to be headed to New Zealand about now.

My first thought, after “oh crap,” was that all those folks who were convinced that voting for Joe Biden against Donald Trump because Trump was a threat to the stability of the world are probably regretting their vote. But on further reflection, probably not. After being the first president in modern times not to start a war, believing that Trump was the danger was so foolish that people believing it are probably immune to reason.

Since the start of the Ukraine war I have held two beliefs simultaneously: 1) Putin is entirely in the wrong and deserves whatever awful things happen to him; and 2) we should do just about anything we can to avoid getting us all blown up.

Preferably we can square the circle: have Putin lose badly while also finding him an off-ramp so that he can retreat without losing too much face. That is a tough nut to crack, and I can understand why even the smartest minds are having trouble cracking it. Biden surely hasn’t:

“I don’t think there is any such a thing as the ability to easily use a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon,” Biden said.

He added that he was still “trying to figure” out Putin’s “off-ramp” in Ukraine.

“Where does he find a way out?” Biden asked. “Where does he find himself in a position that he does not only lose face but lose significant power within Russia?”

Unfortunately nobody in the Biden Administration is remotely intelligent, so the best we can hope for is some kind of solution where we come out alive. And Joe Biden is blowing it, even with such a low bar to clear.

Biden is not wrong about the danger we face. The more successful Ukraine is in pushing the Russians back, the more backed into a corner the Putin regime is, and hence the more likely they are to reach for their nuclear trump card. And many of our allies seem just fine with that. In fact, our ally President Zelensky is so fine with it that he is suggesting we strike first–something that would be tantamount to starting WWIII.

NEW – Ukraine's Zelensky calls on NATO to launch "preemptive strikes" against Russia to "eliminate the possibility" of a Russian nuclear strike.pic.twitter.com/gj6mSRZfFF

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) October 6, 2022

My answer, at least, is NO! Hell no. Thanks for the suggestion but I would prefer to live a few more years.

As I wrote in my upcoming Elon Musk post (you really should subscribe to VIP so you can read it!), New York City just produced a PSA on how to survive a nuclear attack. This strikes me as ominous.

Somebody in the security state is warning NYC officials that a war with Russia that could include nukes is on the table. As cheerful as our PSA lady is in the video, again this doesn’t strike me as a good thing. It is a terrible, horrible, no good very bad thing, in fact.

The cheerleading for Ukraine is very understandable. When Ukraine stalled the attack on Kiev and starting hitting back I was cheering along with the crowd, but a few weeks in I started getting worried. What if Russia decided to stick it out and up the stakes? And what if Ukraine kept winning? What then? Does Putin actually consider dropping a nuke instead of just saber rattling with them?

Apparent the Biden Administration thinks that Putin might indeed do so. And it is easy to see why: losing the war and keeping his power are likely incompatible. And Putin doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who loses gracefully, or would be fine with being assassinated.

For all his flaws Trump–despite being constantly accused of being a Putin puppet–was the guy who kept Putin in check. Obama let Putin invade Ukraine and steal its territory, and when Biden got elected Putin decided to invade Ukraine again. So who is the Putin patsy? Well, Joe Biden was in power both invasions, so maybe the NeverTrumpers should reconsider the point.

I still have some confidence that come Christmas I will not have been incinerated by an ICBM, but I admit to being worried. Getting bombed out of existence strikes me as unpleasant, and surviving such a bombing would leave me in a position almost as bad. I am useless outside civilization.