Does Taiwan have nucs?
No. They rely on ours. More importantly they rely on our will because without the will, all of our weapons are worthless. Just as important as our will is, “do the Chinese believe we have the will to fight China to save Taiwan?” It is important we persuade the Chinese that we do, if we are to insure they don’t even try. That’s difficult for a president to do if his base is believed to be as pacifistic as say, Ron Paul fans. The pacifist at any price crowd unwittingly makes aggression more, not less likely, because they’re always loudly proclaiming they have no will. It’s also difficult for a president to be persuasive if his Naval officers are insubordinate and go out of their way to display weakness and if it looks like there’s a nearly 4 year ongoing coup attempt undermining his authority.