In front of a backdrop of American flags, Hillary Clinton on Thursday called presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump’s national security ideas a series of “bizarre rants, personal feuds, and outright lies” and warned that electing him as commander-in-chief would be a “historic mistake.”
Clinton turned what was billed as a major speech about her national security policy into an opportunity to draw stark contrasts with Trump and portray him as unfit for the presidency. The former secretary of state broke no new ground on her own policy, but she did break down the ways she “profoundly” disagrees with Trump. The Democratic contender used the national security address to attempt to both mock and fact-check Trump.
“Donald Trump’s ideas aren’t just different — they are dangerously incoherent,” Clinton said. “They’re not even really ideas, just a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds and outright lies.”
Calling Trump “temperamentally unfit” for the presidency, Clinton highlighted statements the Republican candidate has made saying that more countries should have nuclear weapons and threatening to abandon NATO allies. Clinton said she believed Trump will take the U.S. down a “truly dangerous path.”
“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,” Clinton said.
Clinton, meanwhile, sought to present herself as the capable alternative to Trump, noting that “making the right call takes a cool head and respect for the facts.”
“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,” she said.
As the Democrat went through seven points ticking off the major contrasts she wanted to make between her and Trump, Clinton asked that people imagine Trump in the situation room, making life-and-death decisions for U.S. soldiers and the American people.
“Imagine if he had not just his Twitter account at his disposal when he's angry, but the entire military arsenal,” she said, adding, “Do we want him to make those calls? Do we want his finger anywhere near the button?”
Each time Clinton discussed her national security ideas, she quickly turned her attention to attacking and mocking Trump’s own statements and proposals. For instance, on her plan to fight ISIS, Clinton briefly sketched out her ideas — taking out strongholds in Iraq and Syria, intensifying the air and bombing campaign, pursuing diplomacy to end Syria’s civil war, and close Iraq’s sectarian divide and winning the battle in cyberspace — but then shifted the spotlight promptly to Trump.
“What’s Trump’s [plan]? He won’t say. He’s literally keeping it a secret. The secret, of course, is he has no idea of what he’d do to stop ISIS,” Clinton said, going on to list three proposals he has made calling for Syria to be a free zone for ISIS, sending in tens of thousands of American ground troops, and refusing to rule out using nuclear weapons.
“It’s clear he doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about,” she said, adding that Trump’s “demonizing” of Muslims is a “huge propaganda victory” for ISIS. A Trump presidency, Clinton told the crowd, would “embolden” ISIS.
“We cannot take that risk,” she said.
Trump, meanwhile, fired back on Twitter, writing that “Crooked Hillary no longer has credibility - too much failure in office. People will not allow another four years of incompetence!” and “Bad performance by Crooked Hillary Clinton! Reading poorly from the telepromter! She doesn't even look presidential!”
Clinton also focused on relationships with allies during her speech, saying that the U.S. is stronger and safer due to its alliances around the world. Calling Russia and China “deeply envious” of those alliances, Clinton said “they would love for us to elect a president who would jeopardize that source of strength. If Donald gets his way, they will be celebrating in the Kremlin. We cannot let that happen.”
She particularly pointed to Trump’s proposal regarding Japan: “It’s no small thing when he suggests that America should withdraw our military support for Japan, encourage them to get nuclear weapons, and said this about a war between Japan and North Korea, and I quote, ‘If they do, they do. Good luck, enjoy yourself, folks.’”
“I wonder if he even realizes he's talking about nuclear war," Clinton added.
Clinton again and again returned to the theme of her belief in Trump’s incompetence during the speech.
“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,’” she told the crowd. “He also said, ‘I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me.’ You know what? I don’t believe him.”
Tackling the issue of the nuclear agreement with Iran, which she supported, Clinton once again used it to question Trump’s foreign policy knowledge.
“Trump says we shouldn’t have done the deal. We should have walked away. But that would have meant no more global sanctions, and Iran resuming their nuclear program and the world blaming us. So then what? War? Telling the world, good luck, you deal with Iran?” Clinton said. “Of course Trump doesn’t have answers to those questions. Donald Trump doesn’t know the first thing about Iran or its nuclear program. Ask him. It’ll become very clear, very quickly.”
Mackenzie Weinger is a National Security Reporter with The Cipher Brief.
