With Donald Trump calling for “extreme vetting” and pitching a new “ideological test” for immigrants, the big-mouthed billionaire is being called out to take the US naturalization test first. The policy would represent a significant shift in how the USA manages entry into the country. He accused the Democrats of creating a “vacuum to let terrorism grow and thrive” and specifically singled out President Obama as “an incompetent president” for his opening to Iran and for allowing chaos to spread throughout the Mideast by supporting the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, leading to the rise of Islamic State and spread of Islamic terrorism. And he’ll argue that the United States needs to work with anyone who shares the mission of destroying the Islamic State group and other extremist organizations, regardless of other disagreements.
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Trump has called for a temporary ban on all Muslims coming to the United States, and said in recent weeks he plans to expand it.
And while the Republican presidential nominee argued against nation-building in a foreign policy speech Monday, he advocated for something even more grandiose: seizing Iraq’s oil wealth in the aftermath of the US invasion in 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein. But simply by sticking to a script and avoiding the off-the-cuff remarks that have landed him in trouble in the past, Mr Trump may also have wooed some of those Republicans who have been so desperate for him to show a more “presidential” way of doing things.
COORECTS BYLINE TO JAKE DANNA STEVENS NOT CHRISTOPHER DOLAN – Vice President Joe Biden, left, and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton wave as they enter Riverfront Sports Complex for a campaign event in Scranton, Pa., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016.
“In the old days, when we won a war, to the victor belonged the spoils”, Trump said.
Trump said he would wage a multi-front “military, cyber and financial” war to defeat Islamic State. “The threat to their life has gone up a couple clicks”, he said.
Clinton knocked Trump for having previously said he prefers to keep his foreign policy proposals secret in order to catch enemies by surprise.
“Then it turns out the secret is he has no plan”, she said.
It was, in other words, a pretty run-of-the-mill start to the week for Mr. Trump – a politician who, after gloating about predicting a terrorist attack, racially attacking a judge, getting into a public fight with the parents of a fallen war hero and whatever other weird episodes stand out in your head, is losing his capacity to shock.
Trump also called for a fresh round of sanctions on Iran, and for the U.S.to work more closely with countries fighting “radical Islamic terrorism”, such as Russian Federation and Egypt, even though Egypt also falls into a category Trump said his potential administration would speak out against-those that crack down on those in the LGBTQ community. He’ll also call for declaring in explicit terms that, like during the Cold War, the U.S.is in an ideological conflict with radical Islam.
Obama, Clinton and top US officials have warned against using that kind of language to describe the conflict, arguing that it plays into militants’ hands.
Under Trump’s plan, immigrants would also be subjected to tests to show a commitment to USA values, including religious freedom and tolerance. The US would stop issuing visas in any case where it can not perform adequate screenings.
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian anti-corruption investigation was reported to have found $12.7-million (U.S.) in cash payments from a pro-Russia political party designated for Mr. Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort.
Trump has called for a temporary ban on all Muslims coming to the United States, and said in recent weeks he plans to expand it. He’s now saying he would apply that standard to people from “terror regions” that he has not named.
The billionaire initially proposed a blanket ban on all Muslims but has changed it to one that is based on an unspecified list of countries that export terror. “There will be very serious consequences”, he said.
“He would nearly certainly fail, given his general ignorance and weak grasp of basic facts about American history, principles and functioning of our government”, Reid said in a scathing statement.
The Journal said if Republican leaders can not get Trump to change his act soon, they will “have no choice but to write off the nominee as hopeless”.
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“If the disgusting and corrupt media covered me honestly and didn’t put false meaning into the words I say, I would be beating Hillary by 20 percent”, he tweeted Sunday.
