Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton says she’s frustrated by what she suggests is a media double standard between her and Donald Trump. As many outlets, including Mother Jones, have reported, Trump did in fact support the Iraq war. Speaking to reporters, House Speaker Paul Ryan called Putin “an aggressor that does not share our interests”. “That is not acting in our interests”.
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In back-to-back interviews with NBC’s Matt Lauer at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in Manhattan Wednesday night, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump each tried to present themselves as the candidate with the best judgement to be Commander in Chief.
Clinton on Thursday reiterated her opposition to sending a big contingent of troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria, saying it would fulfill ISIS’ wish for a ground war with America.
“I was totally against the war in Iraq”, Trump countered.
And he criticized our military leaders. Asked to square his request for military options with that criticism, Trump said simply: “They’ll probably be different generals”.
“What I did learn is that our leadership, Barack Obama, did not follow … what our experts said to do”, Trump said Wednesday night during the forum.
“The United States of America does not invade other countries to plunder and pillage”, Clinton said.
“He’s been a leader, far more than our president has been a leader”, Trump said.
“So it’s no surprise she’s resorting to unhinged and dishonest attacks, including claiming on Israeli TV that terrorists are praying for Mr. Trump to win”, Miller said. “We have got to take them on in the arena of ideas”, she said, adding that partnering with Muslims was essential for that.
“I would never comment on any aspect of an intelligence briefing I received”, said Clinton, a former secretary of state, before boarding her campaign plane.
Clinton also dismissed criticism following Wednesday’s forum from the Republican National Committee that she looked too serious and had not smiled enough.
The designated topics – national security and the military – were supposed to serve as a preview of the highly-anticipated first general election debate, which is just a little over two weeks away. Lauer’s NBC colleague, Lester Holt, is scheduled to moderate the first debate on September 26. But she defended her support for USA military intervention to help oust a dictator in Libya, despite the chaotic aftermath.
“I had a very short window of time to convey the seriousness with which I would approach the issues that face our country”, she said. And for the first time, he opened the door to granting legal status to people living in the US illegally who join the military.
The Times did note that Lauer pushed Trump on a controversial 2013 Twitter message the real estate mogul wrote where he argued sexual assaults in the armed services were an unsurprising byproduct of men and women being allowed to serve alongside one another in the military. “And I could see myself working that out”.
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She also homed in on Trump’s position on Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that past presidents, including Republican Ronald Reagan, would be astonished at the Republican candidate’s comments.
