‘Hothead’s finger on nuke button scary for America’

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton tried to pivot away from attacks on her protection of US secrets Monday warning against her White House rival Donald Trump being allowed control of US nuclear launch codes.

In Kent, Ohio, Ms Clinton was introduced by Bruce Blair, a former US missile launch officer who organized a joint letter from former colleagues arguing that Mr Trump should not be trusted with nuclear codes.

Ms Clinton, pointing to Mr Trump’s numerous angry blow-ups on the trail and often confused responses to questions on security issues, painted him as a dangerous hothead who could trigger armageddon. “Imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis,” the 69-year-old Democrat said of her Republican rival Mr Trump. “Imagine him plunging us into a war because somebody got under his very thin skin. I hope you’ll think about that when you cast your vote,” she said.

In parallel to the blood-curdling new stump speech, Ms Clinton issued an ad recalling the renowned 1964 Daisy Girl television spot that then president Lyndon Johnson used to paint his challenger Barry Goldwater as a danger to all human life. Mr Trump, meanwhile, has done nothing to moderate his own rhetoric.