Clinton takes on Trump, says he is unfit to be US president

She warned that Trump is not fit to have his finger on America’s nuclear trigger. 

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton launched a searing attack on Donald Trump, saying his foreign policy ideas were “reckless and irresponsible” and terming him “unfit” to become president.

“Like many across our country and around the world, I believe the person the Republicans have nominated for president cannot do the job. Donald Trump’s ideas aren’t just different -- they are dangerously incoherent.

“They’re not even really ideas - just a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds, and outright lies,” Clinton said yesterday in San Diego, California.

During the speech, which was being billed as a major foreign policy and national security address, Clinton minced no words in going after the presumptive Republican nominee on various issues -- from his past statements on international affairs to his temperament for the job.   

“He is not just unprepared -- he is temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense responsibility.

“This is not someone who should ever have the nuclear codes -- because it’s not hard to imagine Donald Trump leading us into a war just because somebody got under his very thin skin,” she said.

“We cannot put the security of our children and grandchildren in Donald Trump’s hands,” she said. “We cannot let him roll the dice with America. This is a man who said that more countries should have nuclear weapons, including Saudi Arabia.”

“This is someone who has threatened to abandon our allies in NATO -- the countries that work with us to root out terrorists abroad before they strike us at home,” Clinton said.

She took a dig at Trump’s past business dealings as well.

“He believes we can treat the US economy like one of his casinos and default on our debts to the rest of the world, which would cause an economic catastrophe far worse than anything we experienced in 2008,” she said.

Referring to some of Trump’s recent foreign policy remarks, Clinton said the billionaire does not deserve to be the president of the United States.

“Unlike him, I have some experience with the tough calls and the hard work of statecraft. I wrestled with the Chinese over a climate deal in Copenhagen, brokered a ceasefire

between Israel and Hamas, negotiated the reduction of nuclear weapons with Russia, twisted arms to bring the world together in global sanctions against Iran, and stood up for the rights of women, religious minorities and LGBT people around the world,” Clinton claimed.

“And I have sat in the Situation Room and advised the president on some of the toughest choices he faced. So I’m not new to this work. And I’m proud to run on my record, because I think the choice before the American people in this election is clear,” she said.

Outlining her stance, Clinton said she believes in strong alliances, clarity in dealing with rivals, as well as a “rock-solid commitment to the values that have always made America great”.

“And I believe with all my heart that America is an exceptional country - that we’re still, in Lincoln’s words, the last, best hope of earth. We are not a country that cowers behind walls. We lead with purpose, and we prevail,” she said.       

“And if America doesn’t lead, we leave a vacuum -- and that will either cause chaos, or other countries will rush in to fill the void. Then they’ll be the ones making the

decisions about your lives and jobs and safety - and trust me, the choices they make will not be to our benefit. That is not an outcome we can live with,” she said.

Trump soon took to Twitter to respond to Clinton.

“Bad performance by crooked Hillary Clinton! Reading poorly from the teleprompter! She doesn’t even look presidential!” he said.

“Crooked Hillary no longer has credibility -- too much failure in office. People will not allow another four years of incompetence!,” Trump said.

“Crooked Hillary Clinton has zero natural talent -- she should not be president. Her temperament is bad and her decision making ability-zilch!” he wrote in another tweet.

In a statement, Clinton’s democratic rival Bernie Sanders said he agrees with her that Trump’s foreign policy ideas are “incredibly reckless and irresponsible”.

“But when it comes to foreign policy, we cannot forget that Secretary Clinton voted for the war in Iraq, the worst foreign policy blunder in modern American history, and that

she has been a proponent of regime change, as in Libya, without thinking through the consequences,” the Vermont senator said.

“We need a foreign policy based on building coalitions and making certain that the brave American men and women in our military do not get bogged down in perpetual warfare in the Middle East.

That’s what I will fight for as president,” Sanders said.

Meanwhile, in a major boost to Republican party unity ahead of the November polls, House Speaker Paul Ryan has endorsed presumptive nominee Donald Trump, saying that they have “more common ground than disagreement”.

“I feel confident he would help us turn the ideas in this agenda into laws to help improve peoples’ lives. That’s why I’ll be voting for him this fall,” Ryan said in an op-ed published in Gazette Xtra.

Ryan, citing “major policy differences”, had refused to endorse Trump after he emerged as the presumptive presidential nominee following his win in the Indiana primary elections in May. Thereafter, the two had a series of meetings and phone calls.

The Speaker has now insisted that despite differences between the two men, they have more common ground than divergence.

“It’s no secret that he and I have our differences. I won’t pretend otherwise. And when I feel the need to, I’ll continue to speak my mind. But the reality is, on the issues that make up our agenda, we have more common ground than disagreement,” he said.

“I’ll be voting for @realDonaldTrump this fall. I’m confident he will help turn the House GOP’s agenda into laws,” he tweeted.

His goal from the start, Ryan said, was to unite the Republican party so they could win in the fall.