Donald Trump will declare an end to nation building if elected USA president, replacing it with what aides described as “foreign policy realism” focused on destroying Islamic State (IS) and other extremist organisations.
Advertisement
In his second big policy speech in as many weeks, Trump said he would wage a multi-front “military, cyber and financial” war to defeat Islamic State.
“We should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people”, Trump said.
At the same time, he said, all federal investigators and prosecutors will be told to focus on rooting out extremist groups, promising that they would do so “viciously” if necessary. The newspaper says Manafort’s lawyer denied his client received any such payments. “We will stop processing visas from those areas until such time as it is deemed safe to resume based on new circumstances or new procedures”. Indeed, the more extreme the anti- immigration rhetoric, the stronger the support from the GOP.
Trump also called again for a temporary suspension of “immigration from some of the most risky and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism”.
According to The Associated Press, the test would assess an immigration candidate’s stances on issues like religious freedom, gender equality and gay rights to see whether they are consistent with US values.
Under Trump’s new immigration policy, the government would use questionnaires, social media, interviews with friends and family or other means to determine if applicants support American values like tolerance and pluralism.
Trump went on to compare the “ideological” battle against “radical Islam” to the Cold War, saying the United States “needs a new immigration policy immediately” and attempting to make a direct link between immigration and terrorist attacks on USA soil.
Obama, Clinton and top USA officials have warned against using that kind of language to describe the conflict, arguing that it plays into militants’ hands.
Trump has alluded to such ideas before, but he went further on Monday by writing the proposal into a major policy speech.
Sticking largely to prepared remarks and reading from a teleprompter, something he rarely does, Trump also criticised Clinton’s record as secretary of state and said she lacked the judgment and character to lead the country.
Trump recognized this political reality early on in his campaign for the party nomination for president.
Last week, Mr Trump outlined his economic agenda in a speech, but the economic plan was quickly overshadowed by the real estate mogul’s claim that President Barack Obama had “founded” IS.
“There are many such regions”, said Trump.
Advertisement
The Republican nominee has made stricter immigration measures a central part of his proposals for defeating the Islamic State group, a battle he said on Monday is akin to the Cold War struggle against communism.
