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, Vice President Joseph Biden and other Democrats said Wednesday in the third day of the party’s National Convention in Philadelphia.
“Donald Trump, with all his rhetoric, would make us less safe,” Biden told the audience in his late evening speech.
The Democrats started the barrage 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.
In speeches after the video, retired Navy. Rear Adm. John Hutson, former Marine Corps Capt. Kristen Kavanaugh, and former CIA Director and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta lambasted Trump’s statements in support of torture and use of military force against terrorists’ families, his demand that NATO states make their payments in order to ensure aid from the U.S. armed forces, and his suggestion that South Korea and Japan develop 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.”
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 Democratic nominee Hillary 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.
Following a rally in Toledo, Ohio, Wednesday evening, Trump was tweeting against the Democrats but did not appear to have responded directly to the verbal jabs from Philadelphia.
At press time, President Barack Obama was beginning his speech, the last of the day’s proceedings.
