Trump Lays Out Foreign Policy “Tempered by Realism,” Backed by “Unquestioned Military Strength”

Donald J. Trump spoke about national defense at the Union League of Philadelphia on Wednesday. (Photo: Associated Press/AP)

In a speech to the Union League of Philadelphia on Wednesday, Donald Trump laid out a foreign policy “tempered by realism” and reliant on “unquestioned military strength.” The Republican presidential candidate’s national security speech follows an endorsement this week by some 88 top U.S. military leaders.

He vowed to rebuild the nation’s aging and dwindling military, warning “our adversaries” would further pounce on American weakness around the world and are hoping his opponent Hillary Clinton wins in November.

“Our adversaries are chomping at the bit,” Mr. Trump said in the speech. “We want to deter, avoid and prevent conflict through our unquestioned military strength.”

Calling for a foreign policy “tempered by realism” rather than interventionist nation-building supported by Mrs. Clinton, the former secretary of state, whom he painted as unfit to lead the nation’s military.

“Unlike my opponent, my foreign policy will emphasize diplomacy, not destruction,” Mr. Trump said. “Hillary Clinton’s legacy in Iraq, Libya, Syria has produced only turmoil and suffering and death.”

Libya, a nation once touted by Mrs. Clinton as a major foreign policy achievement, is now the target of a U.S. military bombing campaign. The country has descended into chaos since the former secretary convinced President Barack Obama to topple dictator Col. Moammar Gadhafi, who previously relinquished his nuclear weapons program to President George W. Bush and cooperated in the U.S. war on terror in exchange for humanitarian aide. In August, U.S. war planes began bombing Islamic State (ISIS) targets as a response to the U.N.-backed government’s request to aid in driving the militants from the town of Sirte.

Indeed, emails obtained by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, which were previously reported by People’s Pundit Daily, clearly show Clinton’s inner circle at the State Department were crafting the Libyan story in the political context to use to boost Mrs. Clinton’s foreign policy credentials. U.S. Pentagon officials confirmed will be a sustained airstrikes campaign against the ISIS in the city.

In an attempt to turn the tables on his opponent, Mr. Trump describing Mrs. Clinton as “reckless” and “totally unfit to be our commander in chief.”

“Sometimes it seemed like there wasn’t a country in the Middle East that Hillary Clinton didn’t want to invade, intervene in, or topple,” he added. “She’s trigger-happy and very unstable.”

Mr. Trump proposed increasing the size of the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps, commissioning the building of ships and submarines for the U.S. Navy, and investing in new fighter planes for the Air Force. He promised he would request Congress rescind the spending caps on defense, known as the sequester, which were imposed after the 2011 debt ceiling fight. Rather than disproportionately targeting national defense, the cost would be offset through “common sense reforms” in other areas of government and by scaling back military bureaucracy.

“As soon as I take office, I will ask Congress to fully eliminate the defense sequester and will submit a new budget to rebuild our military,” the New York businessman said.

The Clinton campaign responded after the speech by pointing out the endorsement of more retired generals and admirals “than any non-incumbent Democrat due to her proven record of diplomacy and steady leadership on the world stage.” Senate Democrats in D.C. filibustered a defense appropriations bill to give off the perception of a fight in the making for Mr. Trump, even though the sequester was Mr. Obama’s idea. The bill would have allowed for increased spending beyond caps while affording more for domestic spending, as well.

The speech by Mr. Trump also preceded his appearance at the commander in chief forum on Wednesday, televised from the Intrepid ship and maritime history museum in New York. He will discuss other national security proposals, as well as veterans issues, after Mrs. Clinton is questionned.

While calling for the immediate destruction of the Islamic State, he said U.S. foreign policy must reject the nation-building and interventionist instincts of President George W. Bush and Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Trump also repeated calls for NATO allies to meet their obligations, which they haven’t.

“Early in my term, I will also be requesting that all NATO nations promptly pay their bills,” Mr. Trump said. “Only five NATO countries, including the United States, are currently meeting their minimum requirements to spend 2 percent of G.D.P. on defense.”

He also criticized the Obama administration for agreeing to a bad nuclear deal with Iran, which allows for a “sunset provision” that permits the regime in Tehran to resume enrichment programs a few years after the president leaves office. He noted how the White House lied to the public about both the terms of the Iran nuclear deal and a ransom for the release of hostages, something they denied because it’s against long-standing U.S. policy. They have since admitted to using the money, which was washed through international banks to avoid breaching U.S. law, to pay for the hostages’ release.

“Our president lied to us,” the GOP nominee said of Mr. Obama, stating he put the regime in Tehran “on a path to nuclear weapons.”

Mr. Trump ripped Mrs. Clinton repeatedly on the “pay for play” scandal, which revealed special access was granted to Clinton Foundation donors and mocked the questions that she has raised about his temperament.

He cited the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s document dump last week on the Friday before the holiday weekend, a tactic frequently used to bury politically damaging stories in the news cycle. The FBI released several internal documents from their probe into Mrs. Clinton and they show she claimed ignorance on classified material more than 100 times. It also showed she used some 13 other mobile devices after claiming she used just one, all of which her aides smashed with hammers. The former secretary also used the expensive BleachBit software to erase the contents of the server after her use of the server was publicly revealed in an article in The New York Times.

“She’s also reckless — so reckless, in fact, that she put her emails on an illegal server than our enemies could easily hack and probably have,” he said. “She doesn’t have a clue.”

Perhaps the biggest applause lines came from him taking a joking shot at Mrs. Clinton.

“Hillary Clinton has taught us really how vulnerable we are in cyberhacking,” he said. “It’s probably the only thing that we’ve learned from Hillary Clinton.”