In wake of the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Brussels, and Pakistan, now more than ever Americans are looking to their political leadership for reassurance that our country has plans for strong national security. American voters are keenly watching the remaining presidential candidates running, as the person elected will immediately take on the responsibility of not only keeping our country safe, but also serving as an ally to countries continuously threatened by terror.
The United States is facing a crucial time in history. The world has never been as threatened by one specific terror organization as it is by ISIS. The Islamic State is such a new and unfamiliar threat, and not simply because it’s such an immensely powerful terrorism network. It also has the ability and resources to use the Internet to attack, leaving its victims dumbfounded and vulnerable. Not to mention how it additionally continues to thrive and prosper by inspiring others to prey on and eventually attack the innocent. The San Bernardino shooting is the best-demonstrated example of an ISIS-inspired attack.
The next President of the United States has to be exceedingly prepared with policy and plans of defense to keep us safe. They must be willing to work tirelessly to do absolutely everything in their power to defend our country and to strategize plans of the eventual destruction of ISIS, because they’ve terrorized our country and others enough at this point. They’ve got to be prepared to step up as the global ally that we are to work in unity with other countries to defeat this ruthless group.
Donald J. Trump is none of these things.
Donald Trump’s tactics of comedic antics, bullying, offensive rhetoric, hatred, and even incitation of violence may prove to be working for him out on the campaign trail, but they won’t be even remotely effective once he steps into the oval office as Commander in Chief and Chief Diplomat of the United States. These tactics would never be adequate against any threat to our national security, but they especially won’t when faced by an organization as powerful and dangerous as ISIS.
It’s common knowledge that it’s unnecessary for a presidential candidate to spend a lot of time discussing their policy plans in depth while campaigning. Simply focusing primarily on talking points is sufficient, as a majority of voters don’t care enough about concrete policy to want to constantly hear about it as they follow the coverage of the candidates. But, Donald Trump has unwaveringly avoided discussing actual plans of policy during his speeches and has completely dodged the press’ questions about his knowledge of foreign policy and plans of national security since his announcement of his presidential bid back in June.
Avoiding the discussion of plans to take on pressing issues that face the country and dodging questions regarding said issues do not exactly inspire confidence in voters when
referring to someone who is competing to be their next leader. This fact alone is a primary reason why Trump’s hefty lead over the remaining candidates is dumbfounding to those of us on the outside looking in at his campaign; however, his massive support speaks volumes about the demographic of his followers. It’s evident at this point that his supporters aren’t aware of the severity of the issues that face our country because if they truly were, they’d be intelligent and reasonable enough to realize that a “President Trump” would be incapable of tackling the issues and keeping us safe.
There are numerous hot-button issues that have come up throughout this election that each candidate has spoken out about [and fought each other on], but the subjects of ISIS, foreign policy, and national security plans are undoubtedly the most important and frequently discussed issues of the 2016 race. So, how can a candidate that frequently avoids all three of these subjects possibly be the obvious frontrunner? That’s the million-dollar question that remains posed among the levelheaded people that are left in this country.
Although we’ve seen interview after interview of Trump avoiding these subjects and dancing around questions with his responses for months now, nothing has served as a stronger display of his true ignorance like his recent Washington Post interview has.
On March 21, the prestigious editorial board of the Washington Post conducted an interview with Trump. The interview focused largely on foreign affairs, social issues, and the controversy surrounding his campaign. Unsurprisingly, Trump deflected to a myriad of unrelated topics such as the media’s bias and unfair treatment of him, the petty fight over hand size [and the insinuation of other appendages]between him and Marco Rubio, and even how attractive his interviewers were to him.
At one point, Washington Post publisher Fred Ryan asked Trump if he would ever consider using a tactical nuclear strike against ISIS as president. “Remember, one thing that everybody has said, I’m a counter-puncher,” responded Trump. “Rubio hit me. Bush hit me. When I said low energy, he’s a low-energy individual, he hit me first. He spent, by the way, he spent 18 million dollars’ worth of negative ads on me. That’s putting…” Ryan interrupted at this point to steer him back on track and said, “This is about ISIS. You would not use a tactical nuclear weapon against ISIS?” To which Trump replied, “I’ll tell you one thing, this is a very good looking group of people here. Could I just go around so I know who the hell I’m talking to?”
You can’t make this stuff up. The full, hour-long, unedited interview is available online for anyone to watch.
“The point for us lies in these points: what happens to the entire environment? Can Trump convince the population? What happens to terrorism? And can he focus on terrorism as much as he does on domestic politics? He can discuss terrorism but he does not know enough and he does not have a team that he has hired to show a strong following, so he just talks about other things,” said professor of Political Science and International Studies Dr. Marco Rimanelli.
“He believes in himself so much that he acts through instinct and that is extremely dangerous because if he gets elected, he will be the most uncontrollable president and make major revolutionary change. He does not feel or act ideologically, politically, or show a commitment to acting historically through an official position that the United States has taken. Everything is based on his view of what is right and wrong, and that cuts across all lines by insulting Republicans, Democrats, and all people in general that are upset with their party. They see him as a populist voice which reflects the populist rebellion that exists in America,” continued Rimanelli.
It’s inarguable that Trump’s use of hateful and discriminatory rhetoric is dangerous because of how contrary to American values it is. But, there is nothing more dangerous in regard to Trump than his sheer ignorance when it comes to actual knowledge of policy, specifically of foreign affairs and national security. The United States cannot afford to elect someone as gravely unaware and completely unprepared as Donald Trump is.
The most baffling aspect of Trump’s candidacy and overall mindset is his constant discussion of how divided the country currently is. The maddening hypocrisy is that he himself has become the pioneering force of the division within our country. The hope is that the division will get better and less severe over time, but the movement of extreme divisiveness that Trump has incited will never completely heal. You can’t un-ring a bell.
