But that's the point. Anything nontrivial in space already is a military weapon. (Though most satellites are trivial by this measure, I'm really talking about the mid-term future.) It doesn't even have to be nuclear. It is not possible to really seriously use space without it being intrinsically weaponized. There's no such thing as non-weaponized space.
And no, I seriously doubt our political leadership really understands this at a gut level. You might even find some people in such positions that could pay lip service to the idea, but still don't really get it. You don't even need "nukes", which, frankly, are redundant pretty quickly and would only add a psychological scare factor.
I am absolutely with you in thinking that politicians don't get this at all. My main point is that there is a context in which those terms are used that doesn't immediately mean that anyone who uses them doesn't realize that mass in space == potential big boom somewhere.
And no, I seriously doubt our political leadership really understands this at a gut level. You might even find some people in such positions that could pay lip service to the idea, but still don't really get it. You don't even need "nukes", which, frankly, are redundant pretty quickly and would only add a psychological scare factor.