Key Points and Summary – The war of words between President Trump and Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev has escalated to a nuclear threat.
-After Trump slammed Medvedev as a “failed former president” and warned he was “entering very dangerous territory,” Medvedev fired back.
President Donald Trump delivers remarks at a National Day of Prayer event, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in the White House Rose Garden. (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley)
-In a chilling social media post, he referenced Russia’s “Dead Hand” system—a Cold War-era doomsday device designed to launch an automatic, retaliatory nuclear strike even if Russia’s leadership is wiped out.
-The direct nuclear threat from the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council marks a terrifying new low in the increasingly personal and public feud between Washington and Moscow.
Trump vs. Russia Is Getting Serious
In recent months, especially since President Donald Trump shifted his position and started expressing public dissatisfaction with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his continued war in Ukraine, one of the loudest voices defending the Kremlin has been Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president who now serves as the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia.
On Thursday, Trump ripped Medvedev on Truth Social and appeared to threaten him.
“I don’t care what India does with Russia,” Trump said of the country that still does business with Russia, and which Trump recently hit with a new tariff.
“They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care. We have done very little business with India, their Tariffs are too high, among the highest in the World. Likewise, Russia and the USA do almost no business together. Let’s keep it that way, and tell Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he’s still President, to watch his words. He’s entering very dangerous territory!”
A “Dead Hand” Warning
Medvedev’s reaction did not indicate he was backing down.
“Russia is right about everything and will continue to go its own way,” the former Russian president said in a Telegram post referenced by the New York Times.
Perhaps more ominously, Medvedev also referenced the post-apocalyptic TV series “The Walking Dead,” and referenced “the Soviet Union’s system for launching a last-ditch, automatic nuclear strike,” the Times said.
Trump Doing the Trump Dance. White House Image.
“About Trump’s threats against me in his personal network Truth, which he banned from operating in our country,” Medvedev said, per a Google translation of his Telegram message.
“If some words of the former Russian president cause such a nervous reaction in the entire formidable US president, then Russia is right in everything and will continue to go its own way…
And about the ‘dead economy’ of India and Russia and ‘entering dangerous territory’ – well, let him remember his favorite films about the ‘walking dead,’ as well as how dangerous a ‘dead hand’ that does not exist in nature can be,” he wrote, followed by a laughing emoji.
The “Dead Hand” is the Cold War-era nickname for the system that can launch a retaliatory nuclear strike, even in the event of an earlier strike that had wiped out the country’s entire leadership.
Medvedev had written earlier this week about Trump, to “Don’t go down the Sleepy Joe road!,” about Trump’s nickname for his predecessor and rival, Joe Biden.
What Does It All Mean?
The Times did note that while Trump is the elected president of the United States, Medvedev is “widely seen as a social-media attack dog relegated to the periphery of President Vladimir V. Putin’s inner circle.”
It was also, according to the report, the second time this summer that Trump and Medvedev had exchanged snipes on social media.
“In wars, traditionally diplomatic messaging is something that’s done with a lot of care and discipline,” Michael Kimmage, a professor at Catholic University in Washington and U.S./Russia expert, told the Times. “The consequences of screwing up can be so huge.”
Grigorii Golosov, a professor of political science at the European University in St. Petersburg, made another point to the Times about the fight.
“Trump wants to criticize someone in Russia,” Golosov said, noting that Trump is unlikely to be so tough on Putin himself, since he would like to make a deal with him.
Putin does not use social media, and as the Times pointed out, Medvedev made a point of setting up a Twitter account during a visit to Silicon Valley in 2010, when he was president. It was a very different time in U.S./Russia relations than today, in the era of the Obama Administration’s “Russia reset.”
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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