Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is dangerously unequal to the job of commander-in-chief, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton said on Thursday.
Clinton, who is still battling Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for her party’s nomination, focused on Trump during a national security policy speech in San Diego. “I believe the person the Republicans have nominated for president cannot do the job,” she said.
“Donald Trump’s ideas aren’t just different – they are dangerously incoherent. They’re not even really ideas, just a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds, and outright lies,” Clinton said. “He is not just unprepared. He is temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability, and immense responsibility. This is not someone who should ever have the nuclear codes, because it’s not hard to imagine Donald Trump leading us into a war just because somebody got under his very thin skin.”
Trump, after overcoming a small army of GOP candidates, in late May reached the number of electoral delegates needed to secure the party’s nomination at its convention next month in Cleveland. Clinton, meanwhile, hopes to finally lock down her nomination with primaries Tuesday in California, New Jersey, and several other states. She made no mention of Sanders in her address on Thursday.
The former senator and secretary of state highlighted Trump’s suggestions in interviews and public appearances earlier this year that the United States would benefit from allowing friendly nations such as Japan and South Korea to develop nuclear weapons rather than continuing to provide them with expensive U.S. security protection if they are not willing to pay their share.
“At some point we have to say, you know what, we’re better off if Japan protects itself against this maniac in North Korea, we’re better off, frankly, if South Korea is going to start to protect itself…” the billionaire said during a CNN town hall in late March. He added: “Now, wouldn’t you rather in a certain sense have Japan have nuclear weapons when North Korea has nuclear weapons? And they do have them. They absolutely have them. They can’t — they have no carrier system yet but they will very soon.”
In a separate appearance on MSNBC that week, Trump indicated that nuclear weapons might be used to strike back following an attack by ISIS.
Clinton pounced on these comments Thursday: “[I]t’s no small thing when he suggests that America should withdraw our military support for Japan, encourage them to get nuclear weapons. And he said this about a war between Japan and North Korea, and I quote, ‘If they do, they do; good luck; enjoy yourself, folks.’”
The Democrat was quoting a Trump speech in April in Wisconsin, where he acknowledged that such a conflict between North Korea and nearby nations would be “a terrible thing.”
“I wonder if he even realizes he’s talking about nuclear war,” Clinton said. “Yes, our friends need to contribute their fair share. I made that point long before Donald Trump came onto the scene. And a number of them have increased their defense spending. The real debate here is whether we keep those alliances strong or cut them off. What he says would weaken our country.”
Trump this morning fired back at Clinton on Twitter: “In Crooked Hillary’s telepromter [sic] speech yesterday, she made up things that I said or believe but have no basis in fact. Not honest!”
As commenters below the post noted, there is video evidence of Trump’s statements. Clinton herself today responded, also via Twitter, “You literally said all those things.”
In her speech, Clinton asserted her own national security bona fides, including negotiation of the U.S.-Russian New START nuclear arms reduction deal during her tenure as secretary of state and pushing for increased sanctions aimed at persuading Iran to relinquish its suspected nuclear-weapon program.
“When President Obama took office, Iran was racing toward a nuclear bomb. Some called for military action, but that could have ignited a broader war that could have mired our troops in another Middle Eastern conflict,” Clinton said. “President Obama chose a different path. And I got to work leading the effort to impose crippling sanctions. We brought Iran to the table. We began talks. And eventually, we reached an agreement that should block every path for Iran to get a nuclear weapon.”
