Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton offered a blistering critique of Donald Trump’s national security policies on Thursday, stating bluntly that voters should not risk “putting the lives of our young men and women in uniform in (his) hands.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The speech, billed as a major national security address, offered little new ground from the former secretary of state on her military and foreign policy plans. Clinton promised to move decisively against America’s enemies but also use military force as a last resort after diplomacy has failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But her remarks did signal an even more aggressive plan of attack against the presumed Republican presidential nominee, detailing his campaign statements as “bizarre rants, personal feuds and outright lies.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Donald Trump’s ideas aren’t just different, they are dangerously incoherent,” she said. “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.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She cited his references to indiscriminately using nuclear weapons in the Middle East, abandoning Pacific allies if they won’t pay more for security assistance, his respect strong-arm tactics of some totalitarian governments and his belief that America’s military is weak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“He says he doesn’t have to listen to our generals or ambassadors, because he has ”a very good brain,’\u00a0” she said. “He also said, ‘I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“You know what? I don’t believe him.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The comments drew laughs and hoots from the San Diego crowd, but Clinton didn’t break a smile during the withering criticism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“A Trump presidency would embolden ISIS,” she said. “This isn’t reality television. This is actual reality.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clinton defended the nuclear deal brokered with Iran as undoubtedly making the world safer, something which Trump and fellow Republicans have repeatedly questioned. She said that her temperament and approach would keep Russia and North Korea in check, in opposition to another regular Trump campaign stump speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
She painted the fall election as a choice between “a fearful America that is less secure and less engaged with the world and a strong, confident America that leads to keep our country safe.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n