The NBC Commander-in-Chief Forum
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton answered questions from Matt Lauer at the NBC Commander-in-Chief Forum.
On September 7, 2016, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton participated in the NBC Commander-in-Chief Forum dealing with America’s role in the world, with the two presidential candidates both arguing that their experience better prepared them to make the life-or-death decisions required of the Commander-in-Chief.
Michael C. Bender and Colleen McCain Nelson wrote an article titled “Trump, Clinton Clash on Security which was published on the Wall Street Journal on September 8, 2016. Bender and Nelson said that Trump stated that building a “great” company and traveling the world prepared him to make the difficult decisions required of a Commander-in-Chief, such as sending U.S. soldiers into harm’s way. The Republican candidate for president said that “The main thing is I have great judgment I know what’s going on, I’ve called so many of the shots.” The forum came as Americans rank national security higher as a priority than in any other presidential election in the past generation.
Bender and Nelson explained that moderator Matt Lauer questioned both candidates on issues that have dogged their campaigns: Clinton’s use of a private email server and her handling of classified information and Trump’s apparent admiration of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Hillary Clinton defended her handling of classified material, saying she took that responsibility seriously while acknowledging that using her own server was “a mistake” that she would not repeat. “I make no excuses for it,” she said. “It was something that should not have been done.”
A navy veteran asked a critical question to Clinton and, as usual, she lied by saying that none of the emails she received in her illegal private server was marked classified. The FBI said that several emails were clearly identified as classified. In addition she received many SAP, Special Access Program, emails that only a few receive in the executive branch and none in Congress since these are the most sensitive of all the top secrets. Hillary Clinton’s mishandling top secret and SAP—Special Access Program— emails have seriously endangered our national security. More than likely all enemy countries now have than information, including the list of our spies and the activities of drones.
Bender and Nelson said that Donald J. Trump stood by his controversial comments, saying that it was an honor to be praised by Putin. The GOP nominee has called Russia’s president a strong leader and Trump noted that Vladimir Putin has an 82% approval rating in his own country. “I think when he calls me brilliant, I’ll take the compliment. The GOP candidate said that he disagrees with the political system of Russia. Trump explained the following: “I think under the leadership of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the generals have been reduced to rubble. They have been reduced to a point where it’s embarrassing for our country.”
Former New York City Mayor and U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani said that he believes Hillary Clinton violated 13 federal laws
Former New York City Mayor and U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani said on January 20, 2016 that he does not think there is any way Hillary Clinton should be able to avoid facing an indictment for the “secretive and highly classified” government information found on the private email server she used while secretary of state. Giuliani told the Fox And Friends program the following: “There are 13 violations of federal law that she arguably committed, this is about as clear as it gets. It is a crime to negligently handle top secret material. Now, how can she put all this out there and not get proceeded against by the government.”
Giuliani pointed out that there is currently a move to demote retired General David Petraeus ’rank over his sharing of secret information with his biographer and mistress. Former New York City Mayor said: “They treated it — in the case of Petraeus — as a major crime, and his actions are a hundredth of hers. She misrepresented about it. She’s lied about it. She said she had no top secret material. It’s absurd.”
Giuliani told FoxNews that Clinton “destroyed 34,000 emails,” and that he would have argued, as a prosecutor, “that’s evidence of a guilty knowledge . . . the destruction is evidence of guilty knowledge, evidentiary principle that you can use against someone when they’re in a situation where who knows what’s on those 34,000 e-mails.” Later it was discovered that her staff destroyed with a hammer or threw away many of the cell phones and tablets which were not given to the FBI.
Lastly, Giuliani denied that the probe is politically motivated as has been claimed by Clinton presidential campaign; as it is the FBI, part of the Obama administration, that is doing the investigation. In addition, Giuliani pointed out, the FBI has opened a second investigation into the Clinton Foundation, which he would find “really worrying” if he were her attorney.
Sadly, Giuliani was wrong in thinking that Hillary Clinton would be prosecuted. Hillary Clinton, as well Bill Clinton, has committed many crimes and has been involved in numerous scandals during decades with complete impunity. This corrupt couple truly is above the law.
Trump speech at the Union League of Philadelphia
Donald J. Trump delivered an important speech on national security and national defense at the Union League of Philadelphia on September 6, 2016.
The Republican presidential candidate wants a strong military to protect America from its enemies and vowed to rebuild the armed forces of America after the neglect and massive budget cuts of the Obama administration. Trump wants an Army of 540,000 soldiers from its current level of 480,000, expand the Marine Corps from 23 to 36 battalions, the Navy from 276 to 350 ships, and the Air Force from 1,100 to 1,200 fighter aircraft. All of these recommendations are supported by the report of the bipartisan defense panel. Trump advocates an improved ballistic missile defense system. If elected, he said he will request Congress to repeal the “sequester” provision of the 2011 Budget Control Act. “As soon as I take office, I will ask Congress to fully eliminate the defense sequester and will submit a new budget to rebuild our military,” Trump said.
Donald J. Trump declared that he will implement a realistic foreign policy. He delivered a powerful critique of Obama-Clinton foreign policy. Trump stated the following: “Let’s look back at the Middle East at the very beginning of 2009. Libya was stable. Syria was under control. Egypt was ruled by a secular president who was an ally of the United States. Iraq was experiencing a reduction in violence….Iran was being choked off by economic sanctions… Unlike my opponent, my foreign policy will emphasize diplomacy, not destruction. Hillary Clinton’s legacy in Iraq, Libya, and Syria has produced only turmoil and suffering and death.”
Trump portrayed Hillary Clinton as “reckless” and “totally unfit to be our Commander-In-Chief.” He questioned her fitness for the Oval Office and said the following: “Sometimes it seemed like there wasn’t a country in the Middle East that Hillary Clinton didn’t want to invade, intervene in, or topple. She’s trigger-happy and very unstable when it comes to war…Hillary Clinton has taught us really how vulnerable we are in cyber hacking. It’s probably the only thing that we’ve learned from Hillary Clinton.”
Ashley Parker and Alan Rappeport wrote an article titled “Donald Trump Vows to Bolster Nation’s Military Capacities” which was published in the New York Times on September 7, 2016. They said that Trump pointed out that America’s adversaries were preparing to capitalize on perceptions of American weakness around the world and vowed to improve the nation’s military capabilities and defense spending. “Our adversaries are chomping at the bit,” Trump said, and “We want to deter, avoid and prevent conflict through our unquestioned military strength.”
On September 6, 2016 Senate Democrats filibustered a defense appropriations bill because it would have allowed for going over the caps on military spending without also doing the same for domestic spending. It was shameful as this action sends a message of weakness at the time that Russia, China, and their allies are rapidly rearming.
Parker and Rappeport said that Trump called on allies to pay more for American military protection. “Early in my term, I will also be requesting that all NATO nations promptly pay their bills,” he said. “Only five NATO countries, including the United States, are currently meeting their minimum requirements to spend 2 % of GDP on defense.” Trump said he would “make government leaner and more responsive to the public,” and suggested reducing the size of the federal government through “responsible workforce attrition.” He also accused the Obama administration of agreeing to bad deals with Iran. “Our president lied to us,” Donald Trump said of President Obama, saying the nuclear deal with Iran put the country “on a path to nuclear weapons. “
Parker and Rappeport pointed out that Trump’s fiercest criticism was for Hillary Clinton. The reporters stated the following: “Trump accused her of being complicit in an array of foreign policy stumbles, and of deleting her emails as secretary of state to hide her participation in a pay for play scandal of granting access to Clinton Foundation donors. He also batted away the questions that she has raised about his temperament, claiming that she is the one who is erratic. She’s also reckless — so reckless, in fact, that she put her emails on an illegal server than our enemies could easily hack and probably have.” Noting that Hillary Clinton has been in politics for decades, he added, “She doesn’t have a clue.”
Trump released a letter signed by 88 high ranking retired military officials endorsing his campaign.
Donald Trump’s campaign released a letter on September 6, 2016 signed by 88 retired military leaders endorsing his presidential candidacy, including four four-star generals and 14 three-star flag officers. Two of the leaders of the group were retired military were Major General Sidney Shachnow and Rear Admiral Charles Williams. Both praised Donald J. Trump and declared that “the 2016 election affords the American people an urgently needed opportunity to make a long-overdue course correction in our national security posture and policy.”
General Sidney Shachnow is a Holocaust survivor who attained the rank of Major General in United States Army. He retired in 1994, after 40 years of active service.
Rear Admiral Charles Williams served as the 72nd commander of Battle Force 7th Fleet.
Retired four-star General Burwell Bell signed the letter commanded U.S. forces in South Korea from 2006 until his retirement in 2008.
Retired Army Lieutenant General William Boykin was included in the letter.
General William Boykin was the United States Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence under President George W. Bush from 2002 to 2007. During his 36-year career in the military he spent 13 years in the Delta Force, including two years as its commander, and was involved in numerous high-profile missions, including the 1980 Iran hostage rescue attempt, the 1992 hunt for Pablo Escobar in Colombia, and the Black Hawk Down incident in Mogadishu, Somalia.
Alfred Gustav Hansen who signed the letter is a retired United States Air Force four-star general who served as Commander, Air Force Logistics Command from 1987 to 1989.
The 88 retired military leaders who endorsed Trump’s presidential campaign stated in their letter the following: “For the past eight years, America’s armed forces have been subjected to a series of ill-considered and debilitating budget cuts, policy choices and combat operations that have left the superb men and women in uniform less capable of performing their vital missions in the future than we require them to be. America’s military, we believe that such a change can only be made by someone who has not been deeply involved with, and substantially responsible for, the hollowing out of our military and the burgeoning threats facing our country around the world. For this reason, we support Donald Trump’s candidacy to be our next Commander-in-Chief. For this reason, we support Donald Trump and his commitment to rebuild our military, secure our borders, to defeat our Islamic supremacist adversaries, and restore law and order domestically. We urge our fellow Americans to do the same.”
The former U.S. military leaders were sharply critical of the Obama administration’s national security and foreign policy, warning that “enemies have become emboldened, sensing weakness and irresolution in Washington” and that “in our professional judgment, the combined effort is potentially extremely perilous.”
Donald Trump called the endorsements a “great honor”. He stated the following: “I thank each of them for their service and their confidence in me to serve as Commander-In-Chief. Keeping our nation safe and leading our armed forces is the most important responsibility of the presidency. Under my administration, we will end the weak foreign policy of the last eight years, rebuild our military, give our troops clear rules of engagement and take care of our veterans when they come home. We can only Make America Great Again if we ensure our military remains the finest fighting force in the world, and that’s exactly what I will do as president.”
Conclusion
Donald J. Trump will be an outstanding Commander-in-Chief if elected president in November. Hillary Clinton has already demonstrated that she is unfit to be president in multiple ways: committing treason, dereliction of duty, and criminal negligence in Benghazi and the war in Libya; mishandling classified emails in an illegal private server; destroying incriminating evidence by erasing thousands of emails and destroying multiple devices; doing favors to donors who gave tens of millions to the corrupt Clinton Foundation while serving as secretary of state, and for committing perjury in her many testimonies in Congress. She should be indicted for all her crimes.
