At the beginning of this presidential race, Donald Trump had some pretty cut-and-dry foreign policy proposals: build a wall to keep the Mexicans out, ban the Muslims from coming in, and nearly one year later, not too much has changed.
Now the GOP’s presidential nominee, Trump has presumably taken his once vague foreign and domestic policy proposals and broken them down–sort of.
Speaking at Youngstown State University in the critical swing state of Ohio on Monday [August 15, 2016], the real estate magnate made an attempt at interweaving newer ideas for changing America’s tactics on the battlefield with older ones that involve the seizing of Middle Eastern oil fields to combat terrorism.
Reading from a prepared text, Trump’s rhetoric immediately found itself in the company of that of a serious presidential candidate–a refreshing revelation following recent antics that found pundits debating Mr. Trump’s attitude more than his policies.
“Just as we won the Cold War, in part by exposing the evils of communism and the virtues of free markets, so too must we take on the ideology of radical Islam.”
Once more revising his 2015 proposed ban on Muslims, he reiterated his plans to keep anyone from places of the world where terrorists have notably plotted and executed attacks from entering the United States.
So far, Trump has failed to outline where these areas are and whether or not allies of the United State (see Belgium and France) would be subject to this plan as well.
Trump’s proposals also included Cold War-era tactics to wage an ideological war when it comes to immigration as well as terrorism, stating that he would implement “extreme vetting” that requires an ideological questionnaire for all migrants.
However, once more offering an incomplete approach, Mr. Trump did not denote how this screening would be implemented and how his administrative would deal with the prospect of terrorists providing false answers.
The biggest takeaway from this speech was that Donald Trump can, in fact, get on topic. But, we’re left to wonder if he can stay on topic long enough to make this race a legitimate one where people actually talk about, oh you know, policies and stuff.
Right now, Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton has managed to stay out of hot water as much focus has been fixed on the inflammatory antics of the Republican Party as of late.
If Donald Trump can stay fixated on further developing his plans for the Oval Office, Clinton may finally be faced with some valid campaigning that will have her answering questions on her past as the nation’s Secretary of State and her potential future as President, and the American people might just get to witness a 2016 race where candidates have to work for their vote.
