Also on Wednesday, Clinton’s campaign announced that 95 retired generals and admirals have endorsed her presidential bid, one day after a group of 88 retired generals and admirals signed an open letter backing Trump to reverse the “hollowing out” of the United States military.
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He would also ask joint chiefs of staff to conduct “a thorough review” of America’s cyber defences.
The U.S. presidential candidates appeared back-to-back on the same stage for the first time during NBC’s “commander-in-chief” forum, answering questions about national security in front of a live TV audience aboard the decommissioned USS Intrepid, which is now a floating museum in NY.
In a video released on his website, Mr Trump said: “I’m going to make our military so big, so powerful, so strong, that nobody – absolutely nobody – is going to mess with us”.
Trump and Clinton are the only candidates to have that.
The United States now spends more than $600 billion a year on the military, more than the next seven countries combined.
“Hillary Clinton’s legacy in Iraq, Libya, Syria has produced only turmoil and suffering and death”, Trump said, though he has previously expressed support for interventions in all three countries. That compares to 48 percent of general voters in the same poll that said they support Clinton and 42 percent that back Trump.
Trump’s team has worked aggressively in recent days to turn deflect such criticism back at Clinton.
The release of such returns has been a tradition of American presidential politics for a half-century, and Democrat Hillary Clinton and her running mate Tim Kaine have already released theirs.
They will not be on the stage at the same time, but it could serve as a warm-up for their first debate, which is scheduled for 26 September.
Trump will deliver another speech on Wednesday evening, at the convention of New York’s Conservative Party.
“I will ask Congress to fully offset the cost of increased military spending”.
Trump is making a case for an expanded military. “But unlike Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton has experience in actual governance, a record of service and a willingness to delve into real policy”.
His position on the sequester has been even more murky.
Only 35 percent of military and veteran voters say they would feel confident in Clinton’s ability to serve as commander-in-chief, compared to 64 percent who say they are not.
Trump suggested that he would “respectfully” ask allied countries to whom the United States provides security to pay more for that protection and would urge all North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies to spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense, as the United States does.
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Beyond new spending on troops and naval assets, Trump also will call for additions to sea-based missile defense. Fulton clarified her question was about those who want to serve. “An absolute rock steadiness mixed with strength to make the best decisions”, she told NBC News’ Matt Lauer during a candidate forum Wednesday night.
