Ridiculing Donald Trump over his fixation with the phrase “radical Islam,” presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has said her Republican rival’s “reckless” ideas like banning Muslims from entering the United States would put the country in greater danger.
Ms. Clinton alleged that Mr. Trump’s remarks have become inflammatory in the aftermath of the Orlando terrorist attack by an Afghan-origin American youth, Omar Mateen.
‘Talking without grasp’
Ms. Clinton (68) has said it is apparent that Mr. Trump does not seem to grasp any of the issues.
“He has been fixated on the phrase, and I quote, ‘radical Islam’, as if those are magic words that, once uttered, will stop terrorists from coming after us,” she charged.
Mr. Trump, she alleged, wanted to ban all Muslims from “entering our country” and suspend immigration from large parts of the world.
‘Incendiary, dangerous comments’
“His comments have become even more inflammatory in recent days. This approach isn’t just wrong; it is dangerous,” Ms. Clinton said in a major policy speech on terrorism in Virginia.
“Of course we want to keep our country safe ... But I want to underscore we rely on partners in majority Muslim countries to help us fight terrorists. We need to build trust in Muslim communities here at home to counter radicalisation and the one-wolf phenomenon,” she argued.
‘He was wrong on Mateen’
Ms. Clinton said Mr. Trump’s claim on birth of the Orlando shooter, who killed 49 people at a gay nightclub, was factually wrong.
“As has been pointed out, the terrorist in Orlando was not born in Afghanistan, as Trump claims, he was born in Queens, New York, only miles away from where Donald Trump himself was born,” she said.
‘Unfit to be C-in-C’
“A ban on Muslims would not have stopped this attack. Neither would a wall. I don’t know how one builds a wall to keep the Internet out. So not one of Donald Trump’s reckless ideas would have saved a single life in Orlando. It’s just more evidence that he is temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified to be Commander-in-Chief,” she said.
In a passionate speech, Ms. Clinton said the U.S. deserved a Commander-in-Chief “who will provide smart, steady leadership.”
‘We will stop this lone-wolf challenge’
She said if elected in the November general elections her top priority would be to identify and stop attacks by lone wolves, like the one on Orlando over the weekend resulting in deaths of 49 people.
“As President I will make identifying and stopping lone wolves a top priority. We will assemble a team from across the government, private sector and our communities to get on top of this challenge,” Clinton said.
Ms. Clinton said as President she would make sure that the law enforcement and intelligence professionals had all the resources they needed.
Stopping their access to arms
“Second, we do need to stop terrorists from getting their hands on the tools to carry out attacks so easily, especially assault weapons, military-style assault weapons, that have no place on our streets,” Ms. Clinton said as she laid out her action plan to prevent a repeat of Orlando-type mass shooting by a self-radicalised youth.
