(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump delivered what his campaign billed
as a "major" terrorism speech, striking a serious tone in the wake of
the Orlando massacre that at first prompted the presumptive Republican nominee
to issue a series of self-congratulatory tweets.
After a moment of silence to
mourn the victims of the attack, Trump expressed sympathies with the LGBT
community.
"It's a strike at the heart
and soul of who we are as a nation," he said. "It’s an assault on the
ability of free people to live their lives, love who they want and express
their identity.”
He also faulted lax
screening of immigrants, saying the U.S. allowed the shooter's family to come
here, and vowed to halt immigration from areas with a proven history of
terrorism.
Criticizing Hillary Clinton, the
presumptive Democratic nominee, he said that her opposition to a ban on Muslims
entering the country while saying she strongly backed LGBT communities
suggested that she was having it "both ways."
"She can't claim to be
supportive of these communities while trying to increase the number of people
coming in who want to suppress these community," Trump said. "How
does this kind of immigration make our country better?"
He also excoriated President
Obama for failing to form the alliances needed to counter the terror
threat against the U.S.
"America must unite the
whole civilized world in the fight against Islamic terrorism, pretty much like
we did with communism during the Cold War," Trump said. "We tried it
President Obama's way doesn't work. He gave the world his apology tour and we
got ISIS."
For Monday's address to
about 100 people at St. Anselm College's Institute of Politics in New
Hampshire, Trump is using a set of Teleprompters in an attempt
to speak more deliberately in formal settings.
The speech wasn't the one he
planned to give last week, when he promised to talk about “all of the
things that have taken place with the Clintons.” Trump decided to recalibrate
after a lone U.S.-born Islamic State sympathizer opened fire in an Orlando
gay club early Sunday morning, using a semi-automatic rifle and a handgun to
kill 49 people and injure 53.
The rampage, the deadliest mass
shooting in the nation’s history, quickly spilled over into the presidential
race, reigniting debate over three hot buttons issues: gun control, gay rights
and terrorism.
Trump first reacted by calling
the incident “horrific,” then kicked up a controversy by accepting congratulations
from fans on Twitter Sunday for “being right about Islamic terrorism” by
previously calling for a ban on Muslims entering the United States. During
a Fox News appearance on Monday morning, Trump called for mosque
surveillance, saying American Muslims know who is radicalized and “if they
don’t turn them in, we are never going to be able to get along.” He said “we
have to really increase the bombing” and suggested knocking out Islamic State
internet capabilities.
A short time before Trump spoke,
Clinton delivered an address on dealing with the threat of terrorism that
was designed to present a contrast to Trump's approach. She said the U.S.
must bolster law enforcement and intelligence gathering,
enact tougher gun laws to keep military-style weapons out
of circulation and deepen cooperation with allies to stem the flow of
money, propaganda and fighters across borders.
She ended with her own call
for national unity.
“I remember how it felt on the
day after 9/11” when the country rallied together around a “sense of common
purpose," she said. “It is time to get back to the spirit of those
days, the spirit on 9/12.”
Earlier in the day,
she blasted Trump as “dangerous,” a major theme of her campaign against
him.
To contact the authors of this story: Jennifer Jacobs in
Washington at jjacobs68@bloomberg.net, Kevin Cirilli in Washington at
kcirilli@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mike Nizza at
mnizza3@bloomberg.net.
©2016 Bloomberg L.P.
No comments:
Post a Comment