Hillary Clinton Denounces the Trump and Cruz Responses to Brussels Attacks

Hillary Clinton has shifted her focus to the general election. In a speech at Stanford University on Wednesday, a day after the Brussels attacks, Clinton touched on many subjects and criticized Donald Trump and Ted Cruz over their national security plans.

In the wake of the tragedy in Belgium, the two leading Republican candidates renewed their anti-Muslim, hard-line rhetoric regarding counterterrorism measures for America. Clinton condemned their approach.

The Washington Post writes:

“America does not cower in fear or hide behind walls. We lead and we succeed,” Clinton said. “Throughout our history we have stared into the face of evil and we have refused to blink. …”

“Slogans aren’t a strategy,” Clinton said in comments aimed at both leading GOP candidates. “Loose cannons tend to misfire.”

The attacks in [Brussels] targeted so-called “soft targets”—an airport and train station—killing at least 31. Islamic State claimed responsibility, raising fears that plots to execute similar attacks in the United States could be carried out. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Tuesday that officials have “no specific, credible intelligence of any plot to conduct similar attacks here in the United States.”

Trump and Cruz remain critical of the Obama administration’s approach to Islamic State. Both continue their calls for bans on the entry of Muslims into the United States, for Muslim neighborhood patrols and for re-evaluation of U.S. participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Clinton denounced their strategies point by point.

“America is a great nation, and this is a time for American leadership: smart, strong, steady leadership,” she said. “No other country can rally allies and partners to defeat [Islamic State]. Only the United States can mobilize common action on a global scale.”

The front-runner for the Democratic nomination also proposed working with tech companies in Silicon Valley to track and analyze Islamic State’s social media activity and digital communications.

Watch Clinton’s full speech here.

—Posted by Eric Ortiz

Related Entries

• March 24, 2016 Belgium
• March 23, 2016 John Cusack and an Ex-Clinton Aide Wage a War of Tweets Over Internet Freedom