Donald Trump introduced a series of new proposals on Wednesday focused on defense modernization and the swift eradication of radical Islamic terror groups, while taking several jabs at Hillary Clinton, whom he cast as “trigger-happy” and “unstable.”
The Republican presidential nominee, who will join his Democratic opponent for the inaugural Commander in Chief Forum late Wednesday evening, promised to detect vulnerabilities in the fight against terrorism and guide a 50-state effort to upgrade and expand America’s military firepower if elected president.
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“We will build an Air Force of at least 1,200 fighter aircrafts… We will build a Navy of 350 surface ships and submarines… We will also seek to develop a state of the art missile defense system,” Trump told the Union League of Philadelphia in his latest speech about national security.
“We want to achieve a stable, peaceful world with less conflict and more common ground,” he added, suggesting that his opponent and President Obama have “degraded” America’s defense capabilities “at the very moment the U.S. and its allies are facing the strongest, most heightened missile threat that we have ever, ever had.”
“Unlike my opponent, my foreign policy will emphasize diplomacy, not destruction,” Trump said, shifting his focus to Clinton.
“Her destructive policies have displaced millions of people [and] she has invited these people in the U.S. with no plan to screen them,” he said. “Sometimes, it seems there wasn’t a country in the Middle East that Hillary Clinton didn’t want to invade, intervene in or topple.
Trump, who has mostly stuck to criticizing Clinton’s private email practices and the activity of her charitable foundation in recent weeks, returned to critiquing her record on Wednesday.
“She talks about her experience, but Hillary Clinton’s only foreign policy experience ended in absolute failure,” he said. “Everywhere she got involved, things got worse.”
Trump: Hillary Clinton "is trigger-happy and very unstable" https://t.co/dJmV7Pi1Yf pic.twitter.com/jbFXAZ7jjY— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) September 7, 2016
“She’s trigger-happy and very unstable,” he added, claiming that his own foreign policy — including U.S. involvement in the Middle East — would be “tempered by realism” if he makes it to the White House.
While reminding voters of his past proposals, including his plan to request additional NATO funding from “economic behemoths” like Germany, Japan and Saudi Arabia, Trump outlined new plans to enhance America’s cybersecurity and “invest heavily in offensive cyber capabilities” to disrupt terrorist groups like the Islamic State, which has used the internet as a recruitment tool.
“Hillary Clinton has taught us all how vulnerable we are to cyber hacking,” he said, drawing a roar of laughter from the crowd. “We will make it a priority to develop defensive and offensive cyber capabilities at our U.S. Cyber Command, and recruit the best and brightest Americans.”
Trump’s remarks came hours after an NBC News/SurveyMonkey tracking poll showed him trouncing Clinton among military and veteran voters 55 to 36 percent. The two candidates will join moderator Matt Lauer for the defense forum at 8 p.m. ET this evening.
