Trump calls American foreign policy under Obama 'total disaster'
WASHINGTON — Having declared himself the presumptive Republican presidential nominee the night before, Donald Trump sought to turn toward a more issues-oriented campaign Wednesday with a speech that branded the foreign policy of President Obama — and Hillary Clinton — as "a complete and total disaster."
Echoing much of what he has said on the campaign trail, the New York businessman vowed to put "America First" when it comes to trade deals, immigration, and defeating Islamic State terrorists, and he pledged to pull back efforts to promote democracy in the Middle East and elsewhere.
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Speaking to an invited group of guests at a hotel just blocks from the White House, Trump said he would "fix" problems that include over-extended military resources and commitments, allies that are not contributing enough money to alliances like NATO, frayed relations with allies like Israel, a lack of respect for the U.S. from rivals such as China, Iran, and North Korea, and a lack of coherence in foreign policy.
"I will view, as president, the world through the clear lens of American interests," Trump said in a speech read off a Teleprompter.
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In a speech offering few details, Trump hit the Obama administration over the Iran nuclear deal, its treatment of Israel, military intervention in Libya, vacillation toward Syria, new diplomatic overtures to Cuba, and even the failure of the president to land the 2016 Summer Olympics. He also criticized the Iraq war that began under President George W. Bush.
U.S. actions in Iraq, Syria, and Libya "have helped unleash" the Islamic State and its terrorist allies, Trump said. While "we're getting out of the nation-building business," Trump said he would help other nations, especially those threatened by radical Islam, but only if they also contribute to the effort and "appreciate" the American commitment.
"I will never send our finest into battle unless necessary, and I mean absolutely necessary, and will only do so if we have a plan for victory with a capital V," Trump said at one point.
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Trump's critics described the speech as muddled at best, incoherent at worst.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a former Republican presidential candidate, described Trump's foreign policy as "isolationism surrounded by disconnected thought," and said it demonstrates a "lack of understanding" of the threats facing the United States.
Trump also hosts a more familiar-looking political rally Wednesday evening in Indiana — site of the next primary — a day after sweeping five northeastern states and expanding his convention delegate lead to around 400.
"We won tremendous victories and larger than even anticipated," Trump told CNN the morning after wins in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island.
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Rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich, as well as various anti-Trump groups, have vowed to fight the businessman all the way to the Republican convention in July, starting with the Indiana primary on Tuesday.
For his part, Trump is starting to turn more and more attention to Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee in the fall election. During his foreign policy speech, he criticized Clinton's performance as secretary of State during the Obama administration, particularly over the 2012 attack on Americans in Benghazi, Libya.
The Clinton campaign, meanwhile, blasted Trump's foreign policy ideas as "dangerous." In a memo, the campaign cited a number of Trump's past statements, including "reckless" talk of nuclear weapons, pledges to fight the Islamic State that would involve thousands of U.S. ground troops, criticism of U.S. allies, and proposals to bar some Muslims from entering the U.S. that amount to "damaging Islamophobia."
"As Hillary Clinton has said, loose cannons tend to misfire," the memo said.
Interviewers on a string of morning shows asked Trump about his primary night comments that Clinton's only political asset is "the women's card," and she would only get 5% of the vote if she were a man.
"It's not sexist, it's true," Trump said on ABC.
Clinton, who won four of five Democratic primaries Tuesday, called Trump a divider during her victory speech, and said that "if fighting for women’s health care and paid family leave and equal pay is playing the woman card, then deal me in.”
As for the Republican race, Trump said both Cruz and Kasich should drop out of the race because neither can obtain a majority of delegates ahead of a first ballot.
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Aides said Trump's Wednesday foreign policy speech is the first in a series of policy addresses the GOP front-runner will deliver.
During the speech, Trump said he would call summits with NATO and Asian allies to discuss new strategies, as well as "a re-balancing of financial commitments."
Historians have long cited Trump's use of the term "America First," the slogan for isolationists — some of them Nazi sympathizers — in the years before Pearl Harbor and World War II.
Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator now with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said Trump contradicted himself on issues like the use of force and maintaining alliances. Miller called the speech a series of "floating bromides" with "no policy prescriptions," and said it is a "terrifying possibility" that Trump is so close to the Republican nomination and possibly the presidency itself.
During his remarks, Trump said American foreign policy is also too "predictable," and added: "We have to be unpredictable, and we have to be unpredictable starting now."
In the wake of his five wins on Tuesday, Trump now has more than 950 delegates, according to the Associated Press, less than 300 away from the 1,237 needed to win the nomination. Trump also figures to receive a good chunk of 54 delegates from Pennsylvania who by rule are unbound to any candidate.
"I think we're going to get it," Trump said on MSNBC's Morning Joe. "I think we're going to get it fairly easily."