Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is an erratic personality in a nation that needs strong, calm leadership to deal with the global threats it faces, his opponent and other Democrats said during this week’s Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
In her acceptance speech late Thursday as the Democratic nominee for president, Hillary Clinton said Trump “can’t even handle the rough-and-tumble of a presidential campaign,” much less the Oval Office.
“He loses his cool at the slightest provocation. When he’s gotten a tough question from a reporter. When he’s challenged in a debate. When he sees a protestor at a rally. … A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons,” she said.
Trump fired back with a series of tweets late Thursday and into Friday morning: “Crooked Hillary said that I ‘couldn’t handle the rough and tumble of a political campaign.’ Really! I just beat 16 people and am beating her!” In a prepared statement, Trump senior policy adviser Stephen Miller called Clinton’s address “a speech delivered from a fantasy universe, not the reality we live in today.”
The Democratic convention’s most sustained assault on Trump’s national security qualifications occurred Wednesday in a series of speeches capped off by Vice President Joseph Biden.
The Democrats started in on the billionaire with a video in which quotes from past presidents about the job were interspersed with clips of former military officers and prominent Republicans, including onetime presidential would-bes Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), expressing deep doubts about Trump’s leadership and whether he should be trusted with the nuclear codes.
In addresses after the video, retired Navy. Rear Adm. John Hutson, former Marine Corps Capt. Kristen Kavanaugh, and former CIA Director and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and finally Biden lambasted Trump’s statements in support of torture and use of military force against terrorists’ families, his demand that NATO allies make their payments to the alliance in order to ensure aid from the U.S. armed forces, and his suggested support for additional nations developing nuclear weapons.
“In an unstable world, we cannot afford unstable leadership,” Panetta said. “We cannot afford someone who believes America should withdraw from the world, threatens our international treaties, and violates our moral principles. We cannot afford an erratic finger on our nuclear weapons.”
There was no response from the Trump camp by Friday regarding the verbal attacks on his readiness to become commander-in-chief. Campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks did not respond to a request for comment.
In interviews and public appearances in March, Trump indicated there might be a benefit to Japan and South Korea establishing their own nuclear arsenals rather than relying on the United States to ensure defense against North Korea. Earlier this month he told The New York Times that as president he would guarantee U.S. defense for NATO states if they have “fulfilled their obligations to us.”
Trump has said he has a strategy for defeating ISIS, but has not discussed its details.
In his speech, Hutson noted that 121 members of the GOP national security community in March issued an open letter saying Trump would “make America less safe” as president.
The speakers contrasted their criticism of Trump with descriptions of Clinton, a former senator and secretary of state, as a strong hand who sanctioned Iran over its nuclear program and was steadfast as the administration debated whether to send Navy SEALs after al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden.
“Hillary Clinton is the only candidate who knows how to work with our allies, who has a specific plan to defeat ISIS. She’s smart and she’s steady,” Hutson said.
