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Clinton: He’s a national security danger. Trump: No, she is

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

GREENVILLE, N.C. >> Donald Trump said Tuesday night that Hillary Clinton’s handling of private emails disqualifies her to serve as president. His own temperament, Trump said, was his “single greatest asset” and not the national security danger that Clinton alleges.

Trump’s charge, delivered to a packed crowd in swing state North Carolina, marked a pointed escalation of the Republican White House hopeful’s case against his Democratic challenger as both court military families in key Southern battlegrounds. Clinton, meanwhile, accused Trump of insulting America’s veterans and pressing dangerous military plans around the globe.

Clinton, addressing supporters in Florida, warned that Trump would lead the nation back to war in the Middle East. And to military vets and their families, she pointed anew to his summertime dust-up with the Muslim parents of a slain American soldier.

“His whole campaign has been one long insult to all those who have worn the uniform,” the Democratic nominee said at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Trump, trying to emphasize his military support, released a letter from 88 retired generals and admirals citing an urgent need for a “course correction” in America’s national security policy. It was aimed at rebutting Clinton’s arguments that she would be best positioned to lead the military and reassuring Republicans who have openly worried that his provocative statements might undermine U.S. alliances.

“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,” the military leaders wrote. “For this reason, we support Donald Trump’s candidacy to be our next commander in chief.”

Trump promoted the letter as he campaigned in Virginia and North Carolina on Tuesday, suggesting that he would rely on the generals to make up for his own lack of national security inexperience to take on the Islamic State group. He vowed to give military leaders a “simple instruction” soon after taking office: “They will have 30 days to submit to the Oval Office a plan for soundly and quickly defeating ISIS.”

Clinton pushed back, saying Trump has lagged in securing key military supporters compared to past Republican nominees including John McCain and Mitt Romney. She pointed to her endorsements from retired Marine Gen. John Allen, who blasted Trump at the Democratic National Committee, and former CIA deputy director Mike Morell.

“They know they can count on me to be the kind of commander in chief who will protect our country and our troops, and they know they cannot count on Donald Trump,” Clinton said en route to Florida. “They view him as a danger and a risk.”

The conflicting messages came as the candidates prepared to appear at an MSNBC forum Wednesday night on national security. While they will appear separately and not be on stage at the same time, it could serve as a warm-up to their highly-anticipated first presidential debate on Sep. 26 in New York.

Meanwhile, Clinton’s campaign released a new television ad entitled “Sacrifice,” showing military veterans watching some of the New York businessman’s more provocative statements.

The spot includes clips of Trump claiming to know more about the Islamic State group than military generals, and his criticism of McCain, the Republican senator from Arizona and a former prisoner of war. The ad, which features former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, a triple-amputee who served in Vietnam, also keys on Trump’s assertion that he has sacrificed a lot compared to families who have lost loved ones in conflict.

“Our veterans deserve better,” reads a line at the end of the ad, which is airing in Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Nevada and Pennsylvania.

Separately, Trump continued to face questions about his immigration policy a day after refusing to rule out a pathway to legal status for immigrants in the country illegally. He focused on his proposed border wall plan in a Tuesday interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Last week in Phoenix, he told a raucous crowd of supporters that there was “one way only” for immigrants here illegally to become legal — to return home and get in line for official re-admittance.

52 responses to “Clinton: He’s a national security danger. Trump: No, she is”

  1. klastri says:

    Any man who can be set off on a days long tirade over an insulting tweet is obviously impaired. In the case of Mr. Trump, his multiple personality defects combine to make him spectacularly unfit for public office.

    Thankfully for the United States, Trump is on his way to a landslide loss.

    • lespark says:

      Klastri, you need help. Stay away from high places. Don’t worry about Trump. He’s doing just fine. Crooked Hilliary will succumb to the thousand cuts.
      Better send in some money to help her out. Your comments are having a negative effect so keep that going.
      Btw, how are the polls going. Somebody told me he’s square on the CNN poll. I said no way. Just last week she was crushing Trump. What happened? Is there something wrong?
      You know of course she will sink further. Her credibility is shot and no one believes her.
      Three Strikes and you’re Out.

      • Ronin006 says:

        Lespark, forgive Klastri, sort of. He is a henpecked husband who writes what he is told by his wife.

        • klastri says:

          You’re lying, of course. But that’s what you do.

        • hawaiikone says:

          Hey klas, you’d better join Johnson’s team as your lady friend is slowly sinking..

        • klastri says:

          hawaiikone – I’m not a fan of throwing away my vote.

          Mrs. Clinton is going to win in an electoral landslide.

        • Ikefromeli says:

          Curious, that Ronin would say that about Klasti, as he is the President of the Pacific chapter of the cuckold diaper wearing enuch society. That coupled that he is spot on with the outline of the Trump voter: undereducated, trouble in the job market, isolated by society and very low tolerance for diversity.

        • amela says:

          Ronin did your wife tell you to say that?

      • kuroiwaj says:

        IRT LesPark, for me, I’m waiting for the CNN poll validation from other polls, and for at least three consecutive polls showing Mr. Trump’s gains. I believe the CNN poll is the beginning of the end for Ms Hillary. As in sports, momentum if planned and executed as well as the Trump campaign, will be difficult to stop by the Ms Hillary’s campaign.

        • lespark says:

          I don’t know how long his lead will last and if it will be enough but at least for the moment the Ks, boots, nb, Ike, can revel in their poop.

      • amela says:

        Transparent then Trump should release his tax returns. He said he would if Hillary submits her emails so with foot in mouth he can release them but is hiding something. Another lie, being audited?

        • DPK says:

          Ms. Clinton should also release the transcripts of her speeches to Wall Street, the ones she was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for.

    • DPK says:

      Let’s see what Wikileaks will drop over the next few weeks.

    • amela says:

      Unfit but the Republicans love him. So think when voting for parties, they’re all in. As for saying Hillary has a quick trigger finger and ready for bloodshed, well how can the person who wants to wipe out countries not spread bloodshed?
      I’m also amazed that there are 88 (?) generals and high ranking military personnel who are endorsing Trump even after he said he knows more about ISIS then any general in the armed forces. I guess if they’re endorsing him he’s right about that!

  2. CEI says:

    This woman has brass cojones. Military people in particular have experienced the Obama administration’s – of which Hillary was a big part – open contempt for them. The idiotic morale killing social engineering, the sequestration cuts that have reduced readiness, the Benghazi debacle and the lying that followed it, the Bowe Bergdahl prisoner swap and the purging of senior officers who didn’t follow Barry’s party line just to name a few. Then there’s Hillary’s “mishandling” of classified information that very likely put the lives of American troops at risk.

    • lespark says:

      Trump wants to come up with some attack ads but doesn’t know where to start. Just watch FOX News. Free.

    • DPK says:

      If you’d like a real eye opening review of Ms. Clinton’s talents, Google President Obama’s campaign remarks about her. The videos are almost a total summary of present Republican talking points. These should be run as anti-Clinton ads.

  3. Ronin006 says:

    During her tenure as Secretary of State, 100% of her sensitive and classified emails were sent and received on a personal unsecured system, and she says Trump is a national security danger. This is clear evidence Hillary has a serious mental disorder which makes her unfit for the White House. The only houses for which she may be qualified are an outhouse and a big house.

    • etalavera says:

      To Hillary supporters – Hillary was a senator & Secretary of State, yet she didn’t know the (c) in her emails meant classified! She’s either incompetent or untrustworthy. Both qualities make her unfit to be president.

  4. bsdetection says:

    Michael J. Morell, a 33-year veteran of the CIA who served under 6 Presidents, was the agency’s deputy director and twice its acting director. He wrote:

    “I spent four years working with Mrs. Clinton when she was secretary of state, most often in the White House Situation Room. In these critically important meetings, I found her to be prepared, detail-oriented, thoughtful, inquisitive and willing to change her mind if presented with a compelling argument.

    “I also saw the secretary’s commitment to our nation’s security; her belief that America is an exceptional nation that must lead in the world for the country to remain secure and prosperous; her understanding that diplomacy can be effective only if the country is perceived as willing and able to use force if necessary; and, most important, her capacity to make the most difficult decision of all — whether to put young American women and men in harm’s way.

    “In sharp contrast to Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Trump has no experience on national security. Even more important, the character traits he has exhibited during the primary season suggest he would be a poor, even dangerous, commander in chief.

    “These traits include his obvious need for self-aggrandizement, his overreaction to perceived slights, his tendency to make decisions based on intuition, his refusal to change his views based on new information, his routine carelessness with the facts, his unwillingness to listen to others and his lack of respect for the rule of law.

    “The dangers that flow from Mr. Trump’s character are not just risks that would emerge if he became president. It is already damaging our national security.”

    • CEI says:

      bsdetection: You pegged the BS meter again, you may want to consider getting a new handle like bssource or bsmachine. Mr. Morrell was deeply involved in the Benghazi mess and was the guy who decided to advance the lie that a video caused the attack when it was known all along the attack was planned in advance. So of course he’s going to speak poorly of Trump and positively of Clinton, what else would he do? Back to the drawing board bsmachine.

    • Cricket_Amos says:

      “I also saw the secretary’s commitment to our nation’s security”

      Not a credible remark.

      Her use of email containing top secret information on a private unsecured server was the cyber-world equivalent of leaving a package of top secret materials on the sidewalk in front of your house.

  5. HOSSANA says:

    Clinton will win the Presidential election but she is by the far, the greatest danger to our national security with her mishandling of her State dept. emails and pathetic lying to cover up her incompetence. This is who you voters will get for a leader and President and she has the GALL to stand there and allege that Trump is a national security danger.

    • hawaiikone says:

      Yes, she could possibly win. The pundits certainly lean that way, our own resident smurfs included. But many benchmarks don’t seem to apply this time around. Who would have thought just a couple of weeks ago that Trump would have rebounded so strongly. There’s a deep running distrust in all things political, and certainly an undercurrent of “enough already” evident among a variety of voting blocks. My last hope rests in Johnson getting into the debates, and seeing him really hit some meaningful chords. Anyone at this point proclaiming any absolutes just might be in for a surprise..

  6. st1d says:

    wikileaks will start releasing the congenital liar’s emails in which “c” is used thousands of times by the female felon herself to indicate classified content. assange will also release some of the 20,000 emails sent to the narcissistic megalomaniac in which “c” is used to indicate classified content.

    that the beast claims not to know what the “c” meant in her emails is a clear indication that she is unfit for handling sensitive information that flows into the office of the president. it is incomprehensible that the fbi, upon hearing her say she thought the “c” was an alphabetical listing of paragraphs, did not follow up with the question, was there ever an “a” or “b” or any other letter of the alphabet used.

    it’s no wonder that the combover has overtaken the female felon in polls, despite her campaign’s desperate flooding of the media with attack ads.

  7. klastri says:

    Well, the Trump visit is now taking its toll on the Mexican government. That visit was widely seen in Mexico as a terrible embarrassment to the government, and ministers have started their departures.

  8. butinski says:

    Why should we trust lying Hillary? The same Hillary who’s been connected with the government all her life. Doesn’t know what a [C] stands for when written before official documents. Even the lowest E1 is taught that when entering the military, especially when applying for a clearance. What a sack of lies she drops when she can’t remember or recall when questioned. Obviously, she’s been brain damaged or lying. In any case, Hillary is not fit to handle classified information.

  9. Ikefromeli says:

    Think the major scandal of Trumps violations of law with campaign donations is going away–hardly, it’s just getting started.

    WASHINGTON ― In March 2014, Donald Trump opened his 126-room Palm Beach mansion, Mar-a-Lago, for a $3,000-per-person fundraiser for Pam Bondi, the Florida attorney general who had recently decided not to join a lawsuit against Trump University and was facing a tough reelection campaign.

    Trump did not write a check to the attorney general that night. The previous fall, his personal foundation had given $25,000 to a pro-Bondi PAC. But by hosting her fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago and bringing in some of his own star power, Trump provided Bondi’s campaign with a nice financial boost.

    Since he began his run for the White House, Trump has repeatedly claimed that Bondi is merely someone he has supported politically. But his fundraising efforts for her were extensive and varied: In addition to the $25,000 donation from his foundation and the star-studded Mar-a-Lago event, Trump and his daughter Ivanka each gave $500 to Bondi’s campaign in the fall of 2013. The following spring, Ivanka and her father donated another $125,000 to the Republican Party of Florida ― Bondi’s single biggest source of campaign funds. Very telling…

    Further, it has been recently documented, this behavior goes back over four decades and that Trump has broken the law on numerous of occasion and paid tens of thousands of dollars in fine.

  10. Ikefromeli says:

    The Dallas Morning News on Tuesday backed Hillary Clinton ― the first Democrat the paper has endorsed for president in over 75 years.

    “We’ve been critical of Clinton’s handling of certain issues in the past,” the newspaper said. “But unlike Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton has experience in actual governance, a record of service and a willingness to delve into real policy.”

  11. Ikefromeli says:

    Security, crime and immigration, well, I hate to bring in facts to such an important discussion, but Trump is full of malarkey and prognostic hubris.

    “A sizable body of scientific research conducted by criminologists, sociologists and economists indicates that: Neighborhoods with more immigrants have lower rates of crime; an influx of immigrants has been shown to decrease crime; and that foreign-born individuals commit less crime than their U.S.-born peers.”

  12. nomu1001 says:

    Democracy, the future of America and future generations cannot hinge on someone who is unhinged.
    On the other hand, if we just saw Clinton’s heart instead of her political posturing, we just might be able to move past the email issue. What would this race be like if Joe Biden were the democratic candidate? Will Michelle Obama be able to mitigate the damage done to the Clinton campaign?

    • DPK says:

      It’s very hard to move past a politician that is caught in direct lies (per the FBI) to the American people. Though Ms. Clinton is certainly brave, as shown when she ducked all those bullets in Bosnia.

  13. Ikefromeli says:

    Trump is the worse combination of humanity. He is that woeful intersection of intolerance and incuriousity

    • sarge22 says:

      HiLIARy is the worst combination of humanity and is done. More Wiki Wiki next week. Donald looking and acting very presidential. Independents agree.

    • cajaybird says:

      If you feel that way about Trump, I wonder what words you use to describe Hillary. I recall Hillary’s answer when asked who is the greatest threat to America, she responded “Republicans”, not ISIS. Do we want another President who believe half the population is the enemy? We’ve already experienced eight very divisive years, it’s about time it ended.

  14. Ikefromeli says:

    ByDANIELLE KEETON-OLSENPublishedSEPTEMBER 7, 2016, 10:56 AM EDT
    Hillary Clinton holds a slight advantage in the latest poll of Arizona likely voters, conducted by Arizona Republic/Morrison Institute for Public Policy/Cronkite News.

    The latest results throw TPM’s PollTracker Average for Arizona into a tossup, in a state where 2012 Republican candidate Mitt Romney won the popular vote by 10 points.

    Clinton leads by one point, 45-44, with Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson polling at 7 percent and Green Party’s Jill Stein following at 2 percent.

    An early-August poll from CBS/YouGov showed Trump ahead by two points, 44-42, with Johnson at 5 percent and Stein at 2 percent. Republic/Morrison/Cronkite has not previously polled on the general election in Arizona.

    The poll was conducted Aug. 17-31 among 704 likely Arizona general election voters.

    The pollster calculated margins of error for each candidate’s vote percentage, with Clinton’s margin of error at plus or minus 3.3 percent, Trump’s at 3.2 percent, Johnson’s at 2.2 percent and Stein’s at 1.1 percent.

    TPM’s PollTracker Average for the Arizona presidential election is currently a tossup, with Trump leading Clinton, 40.4 to 39.7.

  15. CEI says:

    Wow, 2 bad choices. If I were a democrat I’d vote for Jill Stein, that’s for sure. At least it’s a pretty safe bet she will make it to the election without having to be hospitalized.

  16. bsdetection says:

    Trump repeatedly criticizes Clinton for Libya, claiming that he never discussed or supported a Libyan intervention. Here’s a transcript of an interview with Trump on 2011:

    “I can’t believe what our country is doing. Qaddafi in Libya is killing thousands of people, nobody knows how bad it is, and we’re sitting around we have soldiers all have the Middle East, and we’re not bringing them in to stop this horrible carnage and that’s what it is: It’s a carnage.

    “You talk about things that have happened in history; this could be one of the worst,. Now we should go in, we should stop this guy, which would be very easy and very quick. We could do it surgically, stop him from doing it, and save these lives. This is absolutely nuts. We don’t want to get involved and you’re gonna end up with something like you’ve never seen before.

    “But we have go in to save these lives; these people are being slaughtered like animals. It’s horrible what’s going on; it has to be stopped. We should do on a humanitarian basis, immediately go into Libya, knock this guy out very quickly, very surgically, very effectively, and save the lives.”

    So Trump supported Clinton at the time for exactly the steps that he is now criticizing her for. And, as a compulsive liar, he is denying that support even though there is video proof to show that he is lying. Of course, 2011 was also the year that Trump rented his estate to Qaddafi so that he could set up a tent while he was visiting New York.

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