Hillary Clinton, Trump’s Democratic rival, also supports ending the sequester on military spending. Earlier, Clinton reiterated that she regretted her vote for the Iraq War, and hit Trump on falsely saying he has opposed the war from the onset – something he again incorrectly repeated when it was his turn during the forum.
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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. “I have taken responsibility for my decision”, Clinton said. He’s zeroed in on her controversial email practices at the State Department, calling her private email server “reckless”.
Clinton suggested she would enhance US support for “Arabs and Kurds” fighting on the ground to defeat the terror group, which she said was her “highest counter-terrorism goal”.
Though Trump comfortably earns the support of military-affiliated voters overall, Clinton is perceived more favourably on the use of nuclear weapons (44 per cent) while a quarter of them said they would not trust either her or Trump to handle these issues, the poll shows.
Moderator Matt Lauer has come under heavy fire for his performance on Wednesday night at the Commander in Chief Forum, in which he let Trump get away with falsely claiming that he had always been against the invasion in Iraq, among other things.
While Trump and his advisers have argued that Clinton did not learn from the mistakes of the Iraq War, which she voted for as a senator, and drove the U.S. into another blunder by arguing in favor of military intervention in Libya, Trump supported both of those military interventions.
During the Commander-in-Chief Forum on Wednesday night, Republican nominee Donald Trump was asked to explain how he would deal with sexual assault in the military if he were elected president. “He’s been a leader, far more than our president has been a leader”, Trump said.
Trump on military generals: “I think under the leadership of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the generals have been reduced to rubble”.
“We are not putting ground troops into Iraq ever again and we’re not putting ground troops into Syria”, she added.
“I think that when you serve in the armed forces, that’s a very special situation”, Trump said.
Trump praised Putin’s reported 82 percent approval rating in Russian Federation, even calling him “a leader, far more than our president has been a leader”.
– Trump said he has regrets as a politician.
Clinton and Trump were both asked about veterans’ mental health issues, and both promised to do more to reduce suicides.
That deal expires September 30, 2017, which means Trump or Hillary Clinton will have to negotiate with Congress on how to move forward and whether to strike a new budget deal.
Even if Trump chose to solve the problem of sexual assault by kicking women out of the military, that wouldn’t solve another problem when it comes to sexual assault: Men are also victims.
He asked, “Why wasn’t it more than a mistake, why wasn’t it disqualifying, if you want to be commander in chief?” Congress, however, has twice approved legislation that has relieved those cuts, allowing for increased spending on the military and domestic programs.
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“I would have a very, very good relationship with Putin and a very, very good relationship with Russia”, Trump said, adding that he would cooperate with Moscow on defeating Daesh.
