They’re especially big, significant deals given all that’s at stake in the 2016 election. He certainly didn’t do that with Donald Trump. The Republican defended his preparedness to be commander in chief despite vague plans for tackling global challenges and the Democrat argued that her controversial email practices did not expose questionable judgment.
Advertisement
The “Commander in Chief Forum” on Wednesday night, at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in NY, with the two candidates fielding questions from Matt Lauer and from military veterans, came at a critical moment.
Doing little to tamp down the long-running controversy over whether he and his aides have been too friendly with Russia throughout his campaign, Trump complimented Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he has been more of a “leader” than Obama. He added that he didn’t personally like Putin’s system of governing, but that the Russian president has “been a leader, far more than our president has been a leader”.
Trump on military generals: “I think under the leadership Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the generals have been reduced to rubble”.
“It suggests he will let Putin do whatever Putin wants to do and then make excuses for him”, Clinton said.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment. “I’ll just leave it at that”, he said.
“She is going to present a much different picture because she knows the value of veteran services”.
Trump repeats false Iraq War claim: “I was totally against the war in Iraq”.
On Thursday, Trump said he would have voted against the war if he had been serving in Congress at the time.
“What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?”
A coin toss determined that Clinton will be first to take the stage at the forum on Wednesday.
“We are not putting ground troops into Iraq ever again and we’re not putting ground troops into Syria”, Clinton said. “It’s a war we shouldn’t have been in.” .
Advertisement
Others, though not necessarily impressed by Lauer’s performance, thought he forced Trump to bloviate even more than usual, perhaps coming off to viewers as a man without any serious national security plans who is incapable of talking without bullsh*tting.
