Andrea Widburg's frightening column on China hiding nukes in hundreds, if not thousands, of shipping containers crisscrossing the Earth's oceans is enough to give the coolest among us a case of the willies.

It's not a fantasy.  The technology and weaponry exist.  It's consistent with communist Chinese brinkmanship.  Just planting the idea has got to give Xi Jinping's military a morale boost.  It is definitely another negotiating chip on the table as high-stakes demands and concessions are proffered.

How can we know whether nukes are shipped to China-friendly ports in Venezuela and Panama, to be aimed at the USA?

And of course, this doesn't come in a vacuum.  It comes at a time when the U.S. ship of state is in the hands of a guy you wouldn't trust to row a boat with children in it.

The Biden administration admits the worst inflation in nearly half a century took them by surprise.  Somehow, they didn't see a devastating nationwide shortage of baby formula coming?  And the man in the White House attempts to shake hands with people who aren't there while mumbling that his handlers tell him not to say some things out loud.

Don't you wonder what Slow Joe thinks about those Chinese nuclear missile-hiding shipping containers?  Don't you wonder if he even knows about them?  Or if he has been briefed, does he remember?

We haven't declared war since 1942, yet we've fought in at least four major ones since then.  So it's doubtful anyone at the Pentagon will get hung up on the etiquette of Congress having to declare war before pushing the necessary buttons if one or more of those hidden missiles finds our mainland.  Certainly, China knows that.

If the restraint of the Mutually Assured Destruction doctrine worked in the past, it might be expected to work today to mutually dissuade all parties from being trigger-happy.  But what happens if someone with one or 100 shipping container missiles doesn't get the memo, or goes rogue?  What if someone gets it in his head to tip over the first domino?

The question is, who will be the one for the U.S. of A. to decide to retaliate or not retaliate?  And do Americans know how that will work?  Actually, does anyone in the White House know how that will work?  If so, it would be a good idea to tell the rest of us before that moment is upon us.

The entire world knows that no one is going to ask Joe's permission before responding or not responding to an attack.  But this raises two fascinating, if not horrifying, questions:

1. Will Biden try to assert himself when the no doubt very brief arguing begins about the decision to retaliate?  Who, in front of a roomful of witnesses, will step up and say, "Sit down and shut up, Joe, we're trying to decide whether to shoot back"? 

How's that work?  A bunch of generals, admirals, and top-drawer politicians and Cabinet officers all watching, and participating in shutting up the president of the United States so they can decide whether to counter-attack?

2. If Joe doesn't shut up and sit down, then what?  How many of the guys in that room are going to agree that it's OK for this gang of 10 or 20 or 30, none of whom was elected, to silence the president of the United States so they can decide what to do — whether he agrees or not?

Anyone who has had elderly loved ones who have gone around the Alzheimer's bend knows what those few minutes with so much on the line will look like.  It won't be pretty.  Or likely legal, let alone constitutional.  There will be no teleprompters involved.  But many handlers.

Will it be treason to forcibly shut up and remove the president from the room to get a consensus without asking his opinion, let alone his permission?  Who in his right mind would insist on asking Joe Biden his opinion on anything other than maybe where to get good ice cream cones?  Who has watched the year and a half of his presidency believes anyone in the administration requires Joe's permission to do anything?

Nevertheless, will there be some (many?) in the room to whom ignoring, shutting up, restraining the president will be a bridge too far?

Or will anyone have the audacity to order someone with handcuffs and a gun to physically restrain Slow Joe, AKA the president?  Will others in the room take violent exception to that?

It could surpass Dr. Strangelove's classic scene: "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here!  This is the War Room!"

Did anyone a year and a half ago anticipate such a looming disaster?  My inclination is to believe that the destructive-minded "progressives" knew full well what catastrophe they were setting in motion with the Biden presidency.  Their plan always has been to destroy the nation in order to build it back "better" from scratch as their inspiration, Karl Marx, would have it.  It's something that definitely will not catch them by surprise.  They engineered this fine mess.

But millions of their useful idiots probably weren't let in on the plan and will be as horrified as normal people when they see what electing Joe has wrought.

Mark Landsbaum is a Christian retired journalist, former investigative reporter, editorial writer, and columnist.  He also is a husband, father, grandfather, and Dodgers fan.  He can be reached at mark.landsbaum@gmail.com. 

Image: lldd11 via Pixabay, Pixabay License.