There's a new Hillary Clinton in town.
A speech that was billed as a major foreign policy address
instead unfolded as a savage, mocking evisceration of Donald Trump Thursday as
the former secretary of state adopted an aggressive new campaign persona
designed to repel the unpredictable challenge posed by the presumptive
Republican presidential nominee.
In one o
f the most striking speeches of her political
career, Clinton dispensed with the sober diplo-speak that has characterized her
previous national security addresses and went straight for the jugular,
unleashing a series of biting attacks on Trump.
In the spirit of President Lyndon Johnson's notorious
"Daisy" nuclear blast ad targeting Barry Goldwater's temperament in
1964, Clinton warned that Trump should not be let anywhere near the nuclear
codes because he could start a war when somebody "got under his very thin
skin."
"He's not just unprepared -- he's temperamentally unfit
to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense
responsibility," Clinton said during the speech in San Diego, California,
days before Tuesday's primary in the Golden State effectively concludes the
primary season and confirms her as the presumptive Democratic nominee over
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The speech marked a significant moment in Clinton's
campaign, as it was the first real signal of the tactics and attitude she will
use to take on Trump and offered a preview of what are likely to be fierce
clashes between the rivals at a trio of presidential debates later in the year.
It demonstrated the kind of sardonic, unrestrained humor that she often shows
in private interactions with friends and reporters but has refrained from
displaying in public.
It also appeared to be aimed at Democrats who are spooked by
recent polls showing a tight race between Clinton and Trump, and who fear her
often-criticized campaigning skills won't keep up with Trump's volatile and
highly effective off-the-cuff style.
And when she argued that Trump's lack of knowledge on
foreign policy and temperament would put at risk decades of Republican and
Democratic foreign policy advances, she appeared to be making a pitch for
disgruntled national security conservatives who feel unable to put their trust
in the Republican nominee.
Yet the strategy has its risks, as pretty much all of Trump's
GOP primary rivals who tried to take on Trump couldn't survive his return fire.
The question is whether Clinton will be more effective. She might be helped by
not waiting until the last minute like the Republicans did -- seeking to define
Trump early in the minds of the general election audience.
She attempted to convince voters that Trump's ideas are a
mix of "bizarre rants, personal feuds and outright lies." She
lambasted his "bragging" approach to foreign policy based on a string
of "nasty tweets" and accused him of harboring a "bizarre"
affinity for authoritarian leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin, the
Communist rulers of China and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un.
"We cannot put the safety of our children and
grandchildren in Donald Trump's hands. We cannot let him roll the dice with
America," Clinton said.
At one point, Clinton imagined Trump composing nasty tweets
to respond to her speech. And the combative Republican standard-bearer did not
disappoint.
"Bad performance by Crooked Hillary Clinton! Reading
poorly from the teleprompter! She doesn't even look presidential!" the
presumptive GOP nominee wrote as her address ended.
In another tweet, Trump added: "Crooked Hillary no
longer has credibility - too much failure in office. People will not allow
another four years of incompetence!"
But taking a page from Trump's book, Clinton's speech
contained a string of zingers meant to ridicule the presumptive presidential
GOP nominee and render him an unacceptable choice for president.
"He says he has foreign policy experience because he
ran the Miss Universe pageant in Russia," Clinton said. "The stakes
in global statecraft are infinitely higher and more complex than in the world
of luxury hotels."
She added: "I will leave it to the psychiatrists to
explain his attraction to tyrants" before taking aim at Trump's claim that
being a global business tycoon equips him with significant global knowledge.
"You know, there's no risk of people losing their lives
if you blow up a golf-course deal," she said. "But it doesn't work
like that in world affairs."
"He also says, 'I know more about ISIS than the
generals do, believe me.' You know what? I don't believe him," Clinton
said, drawing cheers from her partisan audience of around 250 people.
Aides said that Clinton never intended the speech to be a
formal foreign policy address but rather to deliver a stinging rebuke of Trump.
In terms of policy, much of what she talked about --
including her views on NATO, trade and Russia -- has already been rolled out in
previous, more conventional foreign policy speeches.
But she did focus on the more controversial aspects of the
foreign policy that he has laid out.
"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.
"He believes we can treat the U.S. 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 continued. "He has said that he would order our military
to carry out torture."
Clinton's speech laid out the parameters for what is likely
to be a furious foreign policy debate in the general election. It is a feud
that will allow her to take aim at Trump's alleged inexperience and lack of
knowledge but will also require her to defend what Republicans see as deep
vulnerabilities in her own foreign policy record.
Those liabilities include the aftermath of the NATO
intervention in Libya, in which she played a dominant role and which left
behind a dangerous failed state and a terror haven, as well as the Obama
administration's "reset" of relations with Russia, which critics say
was naïve and ineffective.
Clinton must also confront accusations that she negligently
put American national security at risk by using a personal email server for her
official business when she served as secretary of state.
Trump has already made his own attempt to obliterate Clinton's
foreign policy credentials.
"She doesn't have the temperament to be president.
She's got bad judgment. She's got horribly bad judgment," Trump said last
week. "If you look at the war in Iraq, if you look at what she did with
Libya, which was a total catastrophe."
The likely Democratic nominee closed out her speech with a
preview of how she will respond to such attacks -- by turning the heat back on
Trump and his perceived lack of qualifications to be president.
"Imagine Donald Trump sitting in the Situation Room,
making life-or-death decisions on behalf of the United States. Imagine him
deciding whether to send your spouses or children into battle. Imagine if he
had not just his Twitter account at his disposal when he's angry, but America's
entire arsenal," she said.
"Do we want him making those calls --
someone thin-skinned and quick to anger, who lashes out at the smallest
criticism?" she asked rhetorically. "Do we
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