Tillerson utters six terrifying words on nukes: “That will be the president’s decision.”

Since Trump took office, we have all gone about our business with the dark worry of global nuclear war hanging over us in a way not felt since the 1960s. Deep down, we all know that at any second, Trump could order his aides to push the button.

And in a new interview with ABC anchor David Muir, while discussing North Korea’s latest threat to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson confirmed our worst fear out loud:

MUIR: But if we see this detonation of an H-bomb in the Pacific, what will the U.S. do?

TILLERSON: Well, we will continue our efforts in the diplomatic arena, but all our military options, as the president has said, are on the table. Once we can assess the nature of this threat, the president will make a decision regarding the appropriate actions.

MUIR: For Americans who want to know if there will be military action, if they drop an H-bomb in the Pacific and attach nuclear capability to one of these missiles, will the U.S. have to act?

TILLERSON: That will be the president’s decision, David.

There it is, right out on the open. It will be the president’s decision. The future of the world and the possibility of a nuclear war is in Trump’s hands.

On the campaign trail, Trump had no understanding of simple concepts like the nuclear triad or mutually assured destruction, asking why we do not just use nukes to solve our problems.

Becoming president, and being surrounded by military and diplomatic experts, have had no luck explaining this to Trump, who just this week gave a speech at the United Nations threatening to “totally destroy” nuclear-armed North Korea and calling Kim Jong-un “Rocket Man.” Even Trump’s own chief of staff was visibly stupefied.

Even Ronald Reagan, hardly a peacenik, knew that a nuclear war is unwinnable, because the winner and loser both see their people and their cities annihilated.

And even if Trump chose a conventional, non-nuclear strike, a cornered, attacked Kim Jong-un would not have to show equal restraint. Two of our close allies, South Korea and Japan, are right next door to North Korea, with tens of millions of people within easy range of North Korean nukes. Alaska and Guam are allegedly within range, too.

Trump has brought us to the brink of an existential world crisis. We cannot ignore the damage he is doing and the risk he has put us in.