Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump pledged Wednesday to rebuild what he called a depleted military and said he would order the nation’s top commanders to prepare a plan within 30 days of his taking office to destroy the Islamic State.
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The appearances mark an intense, two-day focus on national security by Trump, who has offered tough rhetoric – but few details – on America’s challenges overseas.
The United States now spends more than 600 billion dollars (£450 billion) a year on the military, more than the next seven countries combined.
Hillary Clinton defended anew her handling of classified information as secretary of state Wednesday night, insisting she did not jeopardize national security by discussing the Obama administration’s drone program and other sensitive matters on a personal email account.
Hillary Clinton, Trump’s Democratic rival, also supports ending the sequester on military spending in addition to the sequester’s cuts to domestic spending.
Mr Trump has given mixed signals about whether he wants to increase military spending overall.
She “has taught us all how vulnerable we are to cyber hacking”, Trump said, adding that “this is probably the only thing we’ve learned from Hillary Clinton”. “They view him as a danger and a risk”.
While Trump has often complained that USA forces are not large enough or well-equipped, he’s also said that he’d save money by cutting waste and ensuring that contractors aren’t getting sweetheart deals due to their connections or lobbying efforts.
Trump’s proposal to lift the sequester limits on military spending won praise from Republicans on Capitol Hill even as some acknowledged the reality that Democratic opposition might render it hard to achieve.
While Trump and his advisers have argued that Clinton did not learn from the mistakes of the Iraq War – for which she voted as a senator – and drove the USA into another blunder by arguing in favor of military intervention in Libya, Trump supported both of those military interventions.
Clinton and Republican Donald Trump spoke back-to-back but not face-to-face at the forum, hosted by NBC.
Trump did not outline how large the increase would be, but the senior campaign aide said eliminating the sequester would amount to a roughly $500 billion reinvestment over 10 years, which Trump said he would seek to “fully offset” through “common sense reforms that eliminate government waste and budget gimmicks”.
In advance of the focus on security and military issues, Trump issued a letter Tuesday signed by 88 retired generals and admirals who support his candidacy.
Clinton told a get-out-the-vote rally in Tampa, Florida, that she, not Trump, is best prepared to protect the US military serving overseas and take on Islamic State.
But questions remain, even in his party.
“I didn’t recognise many of those names as being there in the fight with me over the last 16 years”, Hertling said. He added that, “we’ll all make our assessments”, in the candidates’ foreign affairs abilities by early November.
A recent Federal Bureau of Investigation report said one email account on the Clinton server was hacked in 2013. An LA Times poll has the candidates tied at 44 percent each, and a Reuters/Ipsos poll from August 29 has Clinton up by 1 percentage point.
Trump accused the Obama and Clinton administration for numerous ramifications of the “faulty” immigration system.
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“Our party leaders are circling the wagons”, said McKee. Max Cleland and veterans-a few who bear the visible scars of war- who silently watch Trump deliver remarks that have been frequently described as “insensitive” and “offensive” by outspoken critics.
