Trump wasted no time trying to promote his brand of anti-terrorism policies in the wake of the Orlando attack. Trump's speech yesterday has angered some key Republican officials, who feel his response further proved he's unfit to lead this nation.
He renewed his proposed ban on Muslims immigrants in this speech.
"When I'm elected I will suspend immigration from areas of the world where there's a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies until we fully understand how to end these threats," said Trump.
Trump also attacked President Obama vigorously in the past few days, and even questioned where the President's loyalties lie.
"People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and can't even mention the words 'radical Islamic terrorism.' There's something going on. It's inconceivable. There's something going on," said Trump in an interview on Fox News on Monday.
Many key Republican officials feel that Trump failed to properly respond to the shooting with yesterday's speech.
House Speaker Paul Ryan has yet again criticized Trump's proposed ban on Muslim immigrants. "I do not think a Muslim ban is in our country's interest," said Ryan. "I do not think it is reflective of our principles, not just as a party, but as a country. And I think the smarter way to go in all respects is to have a security test, not a religious test." Ryan ended by saying that the US is at war with radical Islam, but not all Muslims.
Kevin McCarthy, the House Majority Leader, has also denied Trump's ban idea. "You don't ban somebody on race [or] religion," said McCarthy.
Max Boot, a conservative at the the Council on Foreign Relations, said Trump's reaction has been "partisan and petty," and said the tragedy "could have provided an opening for Trump to rally Republicans against terrorism."
Boot also furthered criticized Trump for his renewal of his Muslim ban, and for suggesting that President Obama may sympathize with radical Islamic terrorists. "His performance has been in character.. which is to say appalling," said Boot.
Eliot Cohen, who worked in the Bush administration Department of State, also criticized Trump's reaction. He said that Trump's reaction was "opportunistic and shallow," and also said it was "not what Americans expect from a president."
Lanhee Chen, who worked on the Romney campaign, said that this speech will further hurt Trump's image with voters. "While it would be true in most cases a big speech like this could reset the decks, I think the challenge with Donald Trump is always who he is at his core," said Chen.
Not only was the speech incredibly partisan, but it also contained several key factual errors.
"Clinton's State Department was in charge of admissions and the admissions process for people applying to enter from overseas," said Trump. Immigrant vetting is actually done by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is part of Homeland Security. The State Department is only responsible for completing the final paperwork part of the process.
"We have to stop the tremendous flow of Syrian refugees into the United States," said Trump. Only about 1,800 Syrian refugees have been admitted to the United States since November 2015.
"We've spent almost $5 trillion over the years on trying to nation build in the Middle East and it has been complete and total disaster," said Trump. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were expensive indeed, but they have only cost around $2 trillion.
This is just the beginning of many more attacks from the Republican establishment towards Trump. Maybe, he should heed some of their advice if he hopes to attract the many dissatisfied conservatives in the Republican Party.
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