--- title: Doomsday Clock Moves Closer to Midnight Thanks to Trump description: The planet lurched significantly closer to a catastrophic event this week as Donald Trump assumed the U.S. presidency canonical: https://time.com/4650438/doomsday-clock-donald-trump-atomic-scientists/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-26T18:06:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T07:14:52.332Z article:section: Science og:title: The 'Doomsday Clock' Lurched Closer to Midnight Thanks to President Trump og:description: Trump is the single biggest factor og:url: https://time.com/4650438/doomsday-clock-donald-trump-atomic-scientists/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt94f6436198170315/6988b76a0a4a227c399ccb56/donald-trump-doomsday-clock.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: donald trump doomsday clock og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The 'Doomsday Clock' Lurched Closer to Midnight Thanks to President Trump twitter:description: Trump is the single biggest factor twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt94f6436198170315/6988b76a0a4a227c399ccb56/donald-trump-doomsday-clock.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Planet Earth's 'Doomsday Clock' Lurches Closer to Midnight Thanks to President Trump > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=d5853d9c-651d-4d9b-bb83-b69c8c278ac7&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Doomsday Clock Jump Forwards to Two and a Half Minutes to Midnight [Watch (HLS stream): Doomsday Clock Jump Forwards to Two and a Half Minutes to Midnight](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ypJ9JudX.m3u8) (1:21)  _Published 2017-01-26. The Doomsday Clock was moved 30 seconds closer to midnight on Thursday_  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jan 26, 2017 6:06 PM UTC  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jan 26, 2017 6:06 PM UTC The planet moved significantly closer to a catastrophic event this week as Donald Trump assumed the U.S. presidency, according to a new [report](http://thebulletin.org/sites/default/files/Final%202017%20Clock%20Statement.pdf). The planet’s Doomsday Clock is now two-and-a-half minutes to midnight, which represents a global catastrophe. It’s the closest the measure has been to midnight since the successful testing of hydrogen bombs in 1953\. The new position represents a [30-second lurch](http://time.com/4194368/doomsday-clock-3-minutes-to-midnight/) forward from the previous position. A group of nuclear scientists affiliated with the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists determine when to move the clock in response to a number of threats from nuclear security to climate change. The formal report notes a slew of factors that contributed to the change including crumbling [international relations](http://time.com/4650459/mexico-president-enrique-pena-nieto-donald-trump-meeting-cancel/?xid=homepage), slow efforts to address [climate change](http://time.com/4564224/donald-trump-climate-change/) and declining global support for democracy. “The most important contributing factor to moving the Doomsday Clock closer to midnight is the rise of Donald Trump,” said Derek Johnson, executive director of the Global Zero to eliminate nuclear weapons. “This is no time to ‘wait and see.’ We must act urgently.” The report notes that Trump has control of the world’s largest nuclear arsenal and has vowed on at least on occasion to start a new nuclear arms race. He has also questioned why the U.S. should not use its nuclear weapons if we have them, according to the report. ## Transcript The board takes the unprecedented step, the first time in its history, of moving the clock hand 30 seconds closer to midnight. Today we move the clock a half- minute closer to midnight. It is now two and a half minutes to midnight. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] The first has been the cavalier and reckless language used across the globe, especially in the United States, during the presidential election and after. Around nuclear weapons and nuclear threats. And the second is a growing disregard of scientific expertise, expertise that is needed when it comes to responding to pressing global challenges, including climate change. The board concludes in no uncertain terms that words matter. In ensuring the safety and security of our planet. They are not the same as actions but they matter a lot. Especially when the risk of accident and miscalculation are so high. They have the ability to be walked back but so to as we have seen influential actors alter their behaviour in response to loose talk In ways that do not promote confidence and steadier smart decision making. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4650438/doomsday-clock-donald-trump-atomic-scientists/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4650438/doomsday-clock-donald-trump-atomic-scientists/"},"headline":"Planet Earth's 'Doomsday Clock' Lurches Closer to Midnight Thanks to President Trump","datePublished":"2017-01-26T18:06:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-07T07:14:52.332Z","description":"Trump is the single biggest factor","url":"https://time.com/4650438/doomsday-clock-donald-trump-atomic-scientists/","keywords":["Security","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt94f6436198170315/6988b76a0a4a227c399ccb56/donald-trump-doomsday-clock.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt94f6436198170315/6988b76a0a4a227c399ccb56/donald-trump-doomsday-clock.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"donald trump doomsday clock","caption":"donald trump doomsday clock","creditText":"Win McNamee—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/security/","name":"Security"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4650438/doomsday-clock-donald-trump-atomic-scientists/","name":"Planet Earth's 'Doomsday Clock' Lurches Closer to Midnight Thanks to President Trump"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Doomsday Clock Jump Forwards to Two and a Half Minutes to Midnight","description":"The Doomsday Clock was moved 30 seconds closer to midnight on Thursday","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ypJ9JudX/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-01-26T17:09:37.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ypJ9JudX.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4650438/doomsday-clock-donald-trump-atomic-scientists/","duration":"PT1M21S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4650438/doomsday-clock-donald-trump-atomic-scientists/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```