On June 2, U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gave a speech where she attacked her Republican opponent Donald Trump’s foreign policy positions, going after his statements on the Middle East and Europe in particular. Trump vowed to respond shortly after, but has yet to do so. What will Trump say in his response? When will he respond? And what will be said of the Middle East?
In her speech, Clinton portrayed Trump as a man whose alleged ignorance, lack of experience and emotions render him unfit to be commander in chief. She hit him several times on Daesh (ISIS), for example. “What’s Trump’s (plan to defeat Daesh)? Well, he won’t say...He has no idea what he’d do to stop ISIS.”
She further claimed he would not be supportive of key U.S. allies like NATO and Israel. “It’s no small thing when he talks about leaving NATO, or says he’ll stay neutral on Israel’s security.”
Clinton also defended the Iran deal, saying that Trump’s plan to end it would move Iran closer to war, and criticized his praise for Russian president Vladimir Putin, all while harkening back to what she says were her successful policies as secretary of state.
But despite his promise to do so, Trump has yet to formally respond. Surely, he’ll spend time responding to Clinton’s statements on Iran, Daesh, NATO and China. His recent Twitter activity also gives an idea on how he will respond.
Those hoping for a measured, policy-heavy speech may be disappointed as most of Trump’s Twitter attacks on Hillary have been personal in nature as of late, at least if his tweets are any indication of what’s to come. “In Crooked Hillary’s teleprompter speech yesterday, she made up things that I said that I said or believe but have no basis in fact. Not honest!” he tweeted after Clinton’s speech.
In Crooked Hillary's telepromter speech yesterday, she made up things that I said or believe but have no basis in fact. Not honest!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2016
He’s continued the personal attacks on her since then. For example, Trump has repeatedly tweeted about a book by a former secret service agent alleging that Clinton has an erratic leadership style, referring to Gary J. Byrne’s upcoming book.
When he has discussed policy, Trump has questioned the U.S.-NATO alliance, demanded better trade deals with China and Mexico, expressed a desire to more aggressively attack Daesh, criticized the 2003 Iraq war, among other things.
Some have called his team of foreign policy advisers “isolationist.” Others have described it as “realist.”
As Clinton is now extremely likely to be the Democratic nominee, expect the two to clash on foreign policy and the Middle East more and more, especially after Trump finally responds with a new speech of his own.
--AL
