Trump: I’ll end raging crisis
Published on: Saturday, July 20, 2024
By: AFP
(From left) Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, US Senator from Ohio and VP J.D. Vance and his wife US lawyer Usha Vance.
MILWAUKEE: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump promised Thursday to bring an end to raging international crises and restore American prestige on the world stage, saying he could “stop wars with a telephone call.”
The former president sought to paint a dire picture of the world under his successor Joe Biden, telling the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee that the planet is “teetering on the edge of World War III.”
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“We will restore peace, stability and harmony all throughout the world,” Trump said, without giving any detail on how he might do that.
“Under our leadership the United States will be respected again. No nation will question our power, no enemy will doubt our might, our borders will be totally secure.”
Trump placed the blame for conflicts around the world squarely on Biden—even those with roots stretching back far before the Democrat took office.
“There is an international crisis the likes of which the world has seldom been part of... war is now raging in Europe, in the Middle East, a growing spectre of conflict hangs over Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines and all of Asia,” he said.
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He vowed to change all that if he is elected to a second term in the White House.
“I will end every single international crisis that the current administration has created, including the horrible war with Russia and Ukraine,” Trump said. But “to achieve this future, we must first rescue our nation from failed and even incompetent leadership.”
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He also said he wanted Americans held abroad to be released—or else.
“The entire world, I tell you this: we want our hostages back and they better be back before I assume office or you will be paying a very big price,” said Trump—again failing to give any specifics.
He pledged to build a version of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system for the United States, ignoring the fact that the system is designed for short-range threats and would be ill-suited to defending against intercontinental missiles that are the main danger to the country.
And he suggested that Kim Jong Un—the reclusive North Korean dictator whom he met in person during his presidency, and whose country possesses a nuclear arsenal—longed to see him back in the White House.
“I get along with him, he’d like to see me back too. I think he misses me, if you want to know,” Trump said.
Aides had said Trump would not mention Biden at all. This would fit with the message being given by the campaign that Trump is on a roll, while the Democratic president is struggling.
But Trump claimed that “the damage Biden has done” was worse than damage done by all the “10 worst presidents in the history of the United States.”
He then said he was “only going to use the term once.”
“I’m not going to use the name anymore,” he said.
There were certainly no well wishes expressed by Trump or any other speaker for Biden as he recovers from Covid-19.
Trump also paid homage by kissing the helmet of firefighter Corey Comperatore, who was killed during the shooting at last weekend’s rally. Trump asked the crowd to observe a moment of silence for the victim, whose firefighter’s uniform was displayed on the stage.
At the end of the speech, Trump was joined by his wife Melania, who has been notably absent during his campaign for a return to the White House in November. He took her hand and pecked her on the cheek.
Trump has never been much of a churchgoer in public, even as president, but he attributed his survival of the shooting to God.
“I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of Almighty God,” he said.
“There was blood pouring everywhere and yet in a certain way I felt very safe because I had God on my side.”
The speech had been billed as a sombre, unity-seeking address inspired by the experience of surviving an attempted assassination.
But it soon turned into a torrent of attacks on “crazy” Democratic ex-speaker Nancy Pelosi, the immigrant “invasion” consisting of lunatics and dangerous criminals, and claiming that he was robbed of victory in the 2020 election.
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