The median American is 38, so they were 3ish when the cold war ended. And lots of other people have short memories. I honestly wonder if the idea that the President can end the world at any moment is something that even registers for most voters.
Not even movies these days deal with the subject. It’s usually some other apocalyptic event that’s described. When one of the candidates, who has shown he’s happy to burn down the house if he’s not allowed in, is obsessed with nuking hurricanes… it’s not great.
Sadly, seems many trumpists wouldn’t even mind if it did - at home. Too many find life empty and dull. Even a violent end at home, to many, would be fine. As someone in the arts, I see the utter dearth of it in our culture as incubating the misanthropic rage.