In a hard-hitting speech Hillary Clinton ripped apart Donald Trump’s unusual foreign policy positions with regard to American friends and foes alike, declaring him” temperamentally unfit” for the White House job.
At times during her diatribe against the likely GOP presidential candidate, Clinton appeared to pay back Trump with some strong words but she maintained an argumentative style. On one hand, she presented her views and on the other, her discourse in San Diego, California denounced Trump’s positions on an array of subjects, critical to American foreign policy and national security objectives.
Clinton’s speech also seemed to juxtapose her foreign policy credentials with the rather unconventional statements Trump issued on the campaign trail. Her speech also timed with a key moment in her primary struggles days ahead of a vital California primary that might tip the Democratic balance in her favor vis-à-vis Party opponent Senator Bernie Sanders.
Sanders has given Clinton a hard time during much of the primary season, having won over the youth vote with his promise to deliver economic parity. Although Clinton is all set to hit the 2323 delegate target for Democratic nomination, a win in the Golden State would be much more than a matter of winning more delegates from a haul of 475.
Trump rejected Clinton’s criticism ahead of her speech, saying she has lost credibility.
“Crooked Hillary no longer has credibility – too much failure in office. People will not allow another four years of incompetence!”
“Crooked Hillary Clinton, who I would love to call Lyin’ Hillary, is getting ready to totally misrepresent my foreign policy positions,” he tweeted.
Here are some of the quotes from Clinton’s speech in which she took issue with Trump’s suggestions;
“As Secretary of State, Senator and First Lady, I had the honor of representing America abroad and helping shape our foreign policy at home. As a candidate for President, there’s nothing I take more seriously than our national security. I’ve offered clear strategies for how to defeat ISIS, strengthen our alliances, and make sure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon. And I’m going to keep America’s security at the heart of my campaign.
“And like many across our country and around the world, I believe the person the Republicans have nominated for President cannot do the job.
“Donald Trump’s ideas aren’t just different – they are dangerously incoherent. They’re not even really ideas – just a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds, and outright lies.
“He is not just unprepared – he is temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense responsibility.
“This is not someone who should ever have the nuclear codes – because it’s not hard to imagine Donald Trump leading us into a war just because somebody got under his very thin skin.
“We cannot put the security of our children and grandchildren in Donald Trump’s hands. We cannot let him roll the dice with America.
“This is a man who said that more countries should have nuclear weapons, including Saudi Arabia.
“This is someone who has threatened to abandon our allies in NATO – the countries that work with us to root out terrorists abroad before they strike us at home.
“He believes we can treat the U.S. economy like one of his casinos and default on our debts to the rest of the world, which would cause an economic catastrophe far worse than anything we experienced in 2008.
“He has said that he would order our military to carry out torture and the murder of civilians who are related to suspected terrorists – even though those are war crimes.
“He says he doesn’t have to listen to our generals or our admirals, our ambassadors and other high officials, because he has – quote – “a very good brain.”
“He also said, “I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me.” You know what? I don’t believe him.
“He says climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese, and he has the gall to say that prisoners of war like John McCain aren’t heroes.
“He praises dictators like Vladimir Putin and picks fights with our friends – including the British prime minister, the mayor of London, the German chancellor, the president of Mexico and the Pope.
“He says he has foreign policy experience because he ran the Miss Universe pageant in Russia.
“And to top it off, he believes America is weak. An embarrassment. He called our military a disaster. He said we are – and I quote – a “third-world country.” And he’s been saying things like that for decades.
“Those are the words my friends of someone who doesn’t understand America or the world.
“It’s clear he doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about. So we can’t be certain which of these things he would do. But we can be certain that he’s capable of doing any or all of them. Letting ISIS run wild. Launching a nuclear attack. Starting a ground war. These are all distinct possibilities with Donald Trump in charge.
“And through all his loose talk, there’s one constant theme: demonizing Muslims and playing right into the hands of ISIS’. His proposal to ban 1.5 billion Muslims from even coming to our country doesn’t just violate the religious freedom our country was founded on. It’s also a huge propaganda victory for ISIS. And it alienates the very countries we need to actually help us in this fight.
“A Trump Presidency would embolden ISIS. We cannot take that risk.
“This isn’t reality television – this is actual reality.”
