Stop your unpatriotic fearmongering over ISIS

This is a minor threat, not an existential one

ISIS
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Raqqa Media Center of the Islamic State group, File))

ISIS does not represent an existential threat to the United States. Not even close.

Let me tell you about an actual existential threat that America once faced. It starts with the Soviet armament called the R-36M, the largest ballistic missile ever built. Still in service, the R-36M can be equipped with as many as 10 strategic nuclear warheads on separate entry vehicles, each with a yield of between 500 kilotons and 1.5 megatons of TNT, or a single ultrapowerful warhead with a yield of up to 25 megatons.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.