Congress should work with the Biden administration to address this danger, writing new laws that prevent the president from initiating on his own authority the first use of nuclear weapons in a conflict, and that require him to gain concurrence from a Senate-confirmed official such as the secretary of defense or the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. If neither of these positions is yet Senate-confirmed under a president, then the authority might come from the speaker of the House or the president pro tempore of the Senate—second and third in the constitutional line of succession. Efforts have been made in the past to change the current protocol, but the prospect of a second Trump administration makes doing so all the more urgent.

Eliminating the president’s nuclear sole authority would not impede America’s ability to defend U.S. allies in the face of nuclear attack. But new barriers to first nuclear use could reduce the risk of unintended escalation by making clear that the United States is not going to undertake a nuclear strike without either provocation or a deliberate process. Above all, adopting these changes would provide the U.S. military with the legal authority it needs to stand in the way of a deranged president intent on starting a nuclear war for his own political benefit.