Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump took a moment from the campaign trail Monday afternoon to issue a brief statement about the latest developments in the Islamist attacks in Minnesota, New Jersey and New York.
He said:
In the past 48 hours, our law enforcement showed again that, without them, our country is neither safe nor secure. I am grateful for the quick action of law enforcement in capturing the terrorist responsible for Saturday’s bombings, and the off-duty police officer for stopping the terrorist in Minnesota. This weekend’s attacks, from Minnesota to Manhattan, are just the latest to be carried out on U.S. soil under President Obama. These should be a wake-up call for every American.
Today, Hillary Clinton showed again that she will say anything—and blame anyone—to shift attention away from the weakness she showed as Secretary of State. The Obama-Clinton doctrine of not taking ISIS seriously enough has emboldened terrorists all over the world. They are hoping and praying that Hillary Clinton becomes President so that they can continue their savagery and murder.
While our president has referred to them as the “J.V. Team” and Hillary Clinton calls them our “determined enemies,” I have been willing to call them exactly what they are: radical Islamist terrorists.
I will bring an end to these senseless acts of violence. They are wrong to say that we’re in a fight about ‘narratives.’ These terrorists pose an existential threat to our country, our values, and our way of life.
When I am president, terrorists like today’s suspect in the New York and New Jersey bombings, Ahmad Khan Rahami, and yesterday’s knife-wielding ISIS sympathizer in Minnesota, Dahir Adan, will be stopped. We will not look the other way. We will not allow political correctness and soft-on-terror, soft-on-crime policies to threaten our security and our lives.
Revelations that the Obama Administration wrongly granted citizenship to over 800 immigrants awaiting deportation from countries of concern to national security or high rates of immigration fraud puts this weekend’s attacks in a broader perspective. The safety and security of the homeland must be the overriding objective of our leaders when it comes to our immigration policy.
That’s why I’ve proposed extreme vetting for immigrants from troubled parts of the world where terrorists live and train, and oppose Hillary Clinton’s 550-percent increase in the number of refugees from the conflict in Syria. These are tough problems that require tough leadership. We need to get smart and get tough fast so that this weekend’s attacks do not become the new normal here as it has in Europe and other parts of the world.
Trump’s use of the phrase “hoping and praying” was a reversal of a similar statement Clinton has made repeatedly in interviews with U.S. and international media. It’s not immediately clear if the reference was intentional or not, although she had made the comment during a speech earlier in the day.
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