Washington – Today Donald Trump the presumptive nominee for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination spoke before a full house at the Mayflower Hotel ball room in Washington, D.C. He gave his first major foreign policy speech that lasted about 45 minutes, while drawing differences with President Barack Obama and his former secretary of state, the Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton.
Ironically, Trump came off to the left of Clinton, giving a far more moderate look at foreign policy than anyone might have expected. It was Trump summing up his thoughts that he has often brought up on the campaign trail but he presented his views in a well packaged idea’s delivering his speech over teleprompter.
Trump, this morning, called for the United States to “shake the rust off” its foreign policy and move towards an “America first” model, in one of his most focused efforts to outline how his potential administration would operate.
A Trump administration foreign policy would “return us to a timeless principle,” he claimed.
“My foreign policy will always put the interest of the American people and American security above all else.”
In making a series of attacks on President Obama, Trump offered rough details on some of his proposals to withdraw many of the U.S.’s commitments from overseas and instead use economic leverage to accomplish its goals from afar.
“My foreign policy will always put the interest of the American people and American security above all else,” the Republican front-runner said during his policy speech in Washington.
The ideology would replace “randomness with purpose,” he claimed, “ideology with strategy and chaos with peace.”
Trump hammered on Obama’s legacy, which he characterized as weakening the American military and its foreign clout.
“If President Obama’s goal had been to weaken America, he could not have done a better job,” Trump claimed. Trump’s speech comes on the heels of his dominating victory in five primaries in Atlantic states on Tuesday, as part of what many are expecting to be a pivot to a more genial stance ahead of the general election.
His campaign has previously suggested Trump would begin offering a more restrained and “presidential” image as he gets closer to sealing the GOP nomination. However, the front-runner has appeared to backtrack on the planned evolution in recent days.
Throughout the course of the campaign, Trump has battled concerns from many foreign policy experts — including prominent Republicans — that his positions are too extreme and would represent a dramatic break with decades of U.S. leadership.
Among other points, he has called for the U.S. to ban Muslims from entering the country, demanded that Mexico pay for a wall along its border with the U.S., and suggested that Japan and South Korea obtain nuclear weapons.
He has also questioned the U.S.’s role within NATO, cast doubt on international trade agreements and promoted extreme military action that could qualify as war crimes, such as saying families of terrorists should be targeted.
His efforts to assemble a team of national security experts, meanwhile, has been relatively lackluster. An initial list of advisers left many Washington hands scratching their heads, and he has yet to surround himself with the types of veterans that would normally complement a leading presidential candidate.
There was plenty of responses to Trumps speech. Here are a few of them…
If Bush 43 or @MittRomney had given this Trump speech as prez candidates, it would be hailed as good politics & interesting worldview
— Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) April 27, 2016
Trump’s FP speech not conservative. It’s isolationism surrounded by disconnected thought, demonstrates lack of understanding threats we face
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) April 27, 2016
Final thought on Trump’s foreign policy speech — Ronald Reagan must be rolling over in his grave.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) April 27, 2016
