The Kennedy Center, one of America’s most respected theaters, is reportedly struggling under President Donald Trump’s new vision for it — and that’s not the only controversy surrounding him.
According to former White House officials, Trump seems increasingly fixated on destruction and explosions. Miles Taylor, who served as chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security during Trump’s first term, told CNN that the president “fantasized quite openly” about detonating bombs just to watch them go off. Taylor claimed there was no deep strategy behind it — Trump simply enjoyed the idea of seeing things explode.
Taylor explained that during meetings in Trump’s first term, the president would often talk about wanting to “blow up bombs” without much reason or plan. He added that this kind of behavior alarmed many in the administration.
Recently, Trump reportedly instructed his government to resume nuclear weapons testing — something that could break the international agreement signed in 1996 called the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. This move quickly drew a harsh warning from Russia, which said it would “follow suit” if the U.S. went ahead with testing.
Taylor also described a tense White House meeting in 2017 when Trump’s heated exchanges with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un nearly pushed the country toward war. He said Trump’s random and aggressive tweets made top officials fear that the situation could spiral out of control. “Anyone who thought there was a smart plan behind it was wrong,” Taylor said. “He was just freestyling, and it terrified his team.”
After one of those meetings, the secretary of defense reportedly told Homeland Security officials to “prepare for war,” believing Trump’s impulsive behavior could lead to an actual military conflict.
Miles Taylor became widely known in 2018 when he anonymously wrote an opinion piece in The New York Timesclaiming that senior officials inside the Trump administration were secretly working to limit his more reckless actions. Since then, Taylor has published books detailing what he saw as Trump’s erratic and dangerous behavior behind closed doors.
Now, less than a year into his second term, Trump is again facing criticism for his apparent love of military theatrics. Earlier this month, he organized a parade in California to mark the Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary — even though the real date is still weeks away. The event was timed to overlap with the nationwide “No Kings” protests, and the most controversial part involved launching live ammunition over Interstate 5 near Camp Pendleton. Reports say that some of the flying shrapnel actually hit vehicles in Vice President JD Vance’s motorcade.
And during his recent visit to Japan, Trump’s team allegedly urged the U.S. Navy to use real 2,000-pound bombs instead of training ones during a military demonstration. The Navy complied, later claiming that using live explosives had been part of the plan all along.
All of this, according to former officials like Miles Taylor, reinforces what they’ve long feared — that Donald Trump’s fascination with explosions and shows of force could one day push the country into serious danger.
