Trump Lays Out Foreign Policy In Speech Criticizing Clinton And Obama

Trump Outlines His Foreign Policy In Youngstown, OH. On August 15, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump laid out his plan to defeat ISIS in a foreign policy speech at Youngstown State University in Ohio. Trump called for “extreme vetting” of immigrants and a temporary ban on immigration from certain countries. Trump also “laid the blame for the rise of Islamic extremism on President Obama and Mrs. Clinton,” criticizing them for various foreign policy decisions in the Middle East. From an August 15 New York Times article:

Donald J. Trump on Monday invoked comparisons to the Cold War era in arguing that the United States must wage an unrelenting ideological fight if it is to defeat the Islamic State. He said he would temporarily suspend immigration from “the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world” and judge allies solely on their participation in America’s mission to root out Islamic terrorism.

In a speech at Youngstown State University in Ohio, a critical swing state where polls show him trailing Hillary Clinton, Mr. Trump combined old vows to seize Middle Eastern oil fields with the announcement of a series of new, if still vague, proposals to change America’s battlefield tactics.

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Monday’s speech represented another attempt by Mr. Trump to focus on issues after a rocky period in his campaign, much as he did last Monday with a speech on the economy. He laid the blame for the rise of Islamic extremism on President Obama and Mrs. Clinton. He said they made “a catastrophic mistake” in “the reckless way in which they pulled out” of Iraq. He charged that Mrs. Clinton compounded the error by attempting to “build a democracy in Libya.”

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Mr. Trump offered no criticism of Mr. Assad, but criticized the Obama administration for advocating the removal of the Syrian leader and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, who was deposed in the first blush of the Arab Spring, because doing so took out the strongmen who kept the lid on violence in the region. [The New York Times, 8/15/16]

Media Highlight Trump’s Past Support For Policies He Bashed In The Speech

NBC News: “Trump Previously Supported Every Single Foreign Policy Decision He Now Decries.” NBC News’ Benjy Sarlin reported that Trump’s speech was “contradictory and filled with so many obvious falsehoods” and that “Trump previously supported every single foreign policy decision he now decries.” Sarlin noted that Trump “endorsed deposing Saddam Hussein in a 2002 interview,” “said repeatedly in 2007 and 2008 that America should withdraw immediately” from Iraq and Afghanistan, “recorded a video in 2011 demanding the Obama administration remove [Libyan dictator Muammar] Gadhafi from power,” and “called [Egyptian dictator Hosni] Mubarak's departure ‘a good thing’ at the time” -- all actions Trump now says he opposed at the times they were taken. From an August 16 NBC News report:

But setting aside the debate over that rhetoric, which he did not repeat in his speech, the national security framework he described was so contradictory and filled with so many obvious falsehoods that it's virtually impossible to tell what he would do as president.

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But these arguments, while unremarkable enough on their own, say nothing about Trump's instincts or how he would govern.

That's because Trump previously supported every single foreign policy decision he now decries.

Despite claiming daily that he opposed the Iraq War from the start, Trump endorsed deposing Saddam Hussein in a 2002 interview and there's no record of him opposing the war until after it had began. As for exiting the Iraq War, he said repeatedly in 2007 and 2008 that America should withdraw immediately and later recommended the same course for Afghanistan.

Turning to Libya, Trump recorded a video in 2011 demanding the Obama administration remove Gadhafi from power on humanitarian grounds. He went on to lie about his support for the Libya intervention in a Republican debate only to admit to it when confronted with footage of his old statements in a CBS interview. Finally, Trump called Mubarak's departure “a good thing” at the time before turning against the idea years later. [NBC News, 8/16/16] 

Wash. Post Fact Checker:  “Trump Criticize[d] Obama And Clinton For Taking Action He Advocated.” Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler and Michelle He Lee debunked several claims from Trump’s speech, writing, “Trump criticize[d] Obama and Clinton for taking action he advocated.” The fact-checkers pointed out that “Trump was a fervent advocate of intervening in Libya”;  that he ‘supported the Iraq invasion before he opposed it, after the invasion already took place”; and that he “criticizes the 2011 withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq,” but “supported rapid withdrawal as early as March 2007, saying the United States should ‘declare victory and leave.’”  From the August 16 Washington Post article:

“The failures in Iraq were compounded by Hillary Clinton’s disaster in Libya. President Obama has since said he regards Libya as his worst mistake.”



First of all, Trump was a fervent advocate of intervening in Libya. On a video uncovered by BuzzFeed, Trump declared in 2011: “Gaddafi in Libya is killing thousands of people. Nobody knows how bad it is, and we’re sitting around. We have soldiers all over 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 …. Now, we should go in, we should stop this guy, which would be very easy and very quick.”

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“I was an opponent of the Iraq War from the beginning — a major difference between me and my opponent.”

What will it take for Trump to just admit that he had supported the Iraq invasion before he opposed it, after the invasion already took place? This is yet another Four Pinocchio claim.

There is no sign that Trump made headlines about his vocal Iraq War stance in 2003, nor that Trump clearly opposed the Iraq War prior to the invasion. We compiled a complete timeline of his comments leading up to the invasion and found that his comments were not “loud,” “clear” nor in “headlines” as he repeatedly claimed on the campaign trail.

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“But I have been just as clear in saying what a catastrophic mistake Hillary Clinton and President Obama made with the reckless way in which they pulled out.”

Trump criticizes the 2011 withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq, saying Obama “got us out the wrong way.” But Trump supported rapid withdrawal as early as March 2007, saying the United States should “declare victory and leave.” So once again Trump criticizes Obama and Clinton for taking action he advocated. [The Washington Post, 8/16/16]

CBS News: Trump’s Speech “Contained Numerous Vaguely-Defined Proposals, Inaccuracies, And Misrepresentations Of His Past Viewpoints.” CBS’s Sopan Deb reported on several “contradictions” in Trump’s speech, including that, rather than opposing the invasion of Iraq, “Trump wrote about being in favor of regime change in his 2000 book … and voiced support for the war in a 2002 interview with Howard Stern.” Deb also wrote that Trump “supported intervening in Libya and is on record doing so multiple times” and that “at multiple points in 2011, supported ousting Mubarak.”  From an August 16 CBS News report:

Donald Trump gave a speech Monday, ostensibly about combatting radical Islamic terrorism, which contained numerous vaguely-defined proposals, inaccuracies, and misrepresentations of his past viewpoints.

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Claims Trump made about his stance on the war in Iraq were also not entirely accurate. As he often does on the campaign trail, Trump said that he opposed the war from the start.

There is no public statement that Trump made that shows this to be the case. In Youngstown, Trump cited an interview he had with Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto before the invasion.

“I said in an interview with Neil Cavuto...that, quote, perhaps we shouldn't be doing it yet and that the economy is a much bigger problem.”

Trump is right on the second half of that statement. He told Cavuto, “Well, I'm starting to think that people are much more focused now on the economy.” However, he did not say the United States shouldn't be going into Iraq.

The closest Trump came to taking a position in that interview was saying, “Either you attack or you don't attack.” In fact, Trump wrote about being in favor of regime change in his 2000 book, The America We Deserve, and voiced support for the war in a 2002 interview with Howard Stern.

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The contradictions went much farther than that.

“By that same token, President Obama and Hillary Clinton should have never attempted to build a democracy in Libya to push for immediate regime change in Syria, or to support the overthrow of the [Hosni] Mubarak in Egypt,” Trump said.

But Trump supported intervening in Libya and is on record doing so multiple times. In 2011, Trump told Piers Morgan, “If you don't get rid of [Muammar] Gadhafi, it's a major, major black eye for this country.” In October, though, Trump told CNN that the world would be “100 percent” better off if Gadhafi and Saddam Hussein were still in power. Trump also, at multiple points in 2011, supported ousting Mubarak, telling Fox News' anchor Greta Van Susteren, in an interview unearthed by Buzzfeed, that Mubarak's overthrow was “a good thing.” [CBS News, 8/16/16]

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough: Trump’s Foreign Policy Contradictions Are “Remarkable.” MSNBC’s Morning Joe compiled clips from Trump’s speech showing Trump claiming that he opposed the Iraq invasion, that it was a mistake to pull out from Iraq, that it was a mistake to invade Libya, and that Mubarak should not have been ousted, and juxtaposed the claims with clips of Trump making contradictory statements in the past. Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough reacted, saying,  “my head hurts” and calling the inconsistencies “remarkable.” From the August 15 edition of Morning Joe:

[MSNBC, Morning Joe, 8/16/16]