other additional take: mutually assured destruction isnt even a function of saving lives or upholding the nation. its about economics. if nukes fly, globalism is no more and corporations cant handle that, so they lobby the feds to never ever use nukes, even just tactically because that would mean that economic processes get disrupted somewhere. they'll do war in every other way imaginable because it's profitable, but as soon as nukes are on the table, all bets are off.  our economy is deliberately set up to avoid happenings because happenings are a loss of profit in the short term.
United States