Tuesday, August 16, 2016
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Transcript of "Understanding The Threat: Radical Islam And The Age Of Terror", a speech delivered by Donald J. Trump on 8/15/16 at Youngstown State University.
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YOUNGSTOWN
Saying he would “reject bigotry and oppression in all its forms” if elected president, Republican Donald Trump called for an immigration policy that would “only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people.”
During Monday’s 49-minute speech at Youngstown State University’s Kilcawley Center, the presidential nominee referenced World War II and the Cold War, mentioning that during the latter the United States had “an ideological screening test. The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today. In addition to screening out all members or sympathizers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any who have hostile attitudes towards our country or its principles.”
He didn’t give specifics on such a test.
Trump added: “Those who do not believe in our Constitution, or who support bigotry and hatred, will not be admitted for immigration into the country. Only those who we expect to flourish in our country, and to embrace a tolerant American society, should be issued immigrant visas. To put these new procedures in place, we will have to temporarily suspend immigration from some of the most-dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism.”
While Trump mentioned Syria and Iran as enemies of America, he said that if elected president he would ask the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to create a list of regions “where adequate screening cannot take place. We will stop processing visas from those areas until such time as it is deemed safe to resume based on new circumstances or new procedures.”
A common thread, Trump said, about all of the “major Islamic terrorist attacks that have recently occurred on our soil” is “they have involved immigrants or children of immigrants. Clearly, new screening procedures are needed.”
In response, Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairman David Betras said, “He’s a xenophobe, he’s the king of dichotomy and double-talk. He hates Muslims. He’s a bigot and a racist, and his speech proves it. We are a nation of immigrants. We assimilate people all the time. We don’t have a religious test to get into this country.”
In his first visit to Mahoning County since Republicans nominated him as president, Trump spoke at an invitation-only event at YSU’s Chestnut Room. Mahoning is the most-populous county in Ohio that backed him over Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the state’s Republican primary
The YSU room can hold up to 750 people, but Trump’s campaign limited the number of invitations to 350.
Trump’s supporters said the candidate is expected back to the Mahoning Valley for a public rally.
While he spoke softly for much of his speech, the crowd at YSU at times erupted with applause and chants of “Trump, Trump, Trump,” and “USA, USA, USA.”
The speech, titled “Understanding the Threat: Radical Islam and the Age of Terror,” started with Trump talking about how the United States defeated fascism, Nazism and communism during the 20th century.
“Now, a different threat challenges our world: radical Islamic terrorism. This summer, there has been an ISIS attack launched outside the war zones of the Middle East every 84 hours,” he said.
Trump said ISIS, also called Islamic State, “has carried out one unthinkable atrocity after another” overseas.
“We cannot let this evil continue,” he said. “Nor can we let the hateful ideology of radical Islam – its oppression of women, gays, children and nonbelievers – be allowed to reside or spread within our own [country]. We will defeat radical Islamic terrorism just as we have defeated every threat we have faced in every age before.”
He added: “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.”
Trump spent a great deal of his time criticizing President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent.
“Incident after incident proves again and again Hillary Clinton lacks the judgment, the temperament and the moral character to lead this nation. Importantly, she also lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on ISIS, and all the many adversaries we face not only in terrorism, but in trade and every other challenge we must confront to turn this country around.”
In response, Jake Sullivan, Clinton’s senior campaign policy adviser, said: “Donald Trump has offered a lot of rhetoric but very few actual proposals. The few plans he has put forth – like his Muslim ban – are out of step with our values and our common sense. From suggesting we should abandon our allies to calling for bringing back torture, Trump’s policies would make us less safe. Some align with Vladimir Putin’s interests and not with American interests; others play into ISIS’ hands.”
Trump said Monday, “I believe that we could find common ground with Russia in the fight against ISIS. They, too, have much at stake in the outcome in Syria, and have had their own battles with Islamic terrorism.”
Trump said his administration would be “a friend to all moderate Muslim reformers in the Middle East,” and he would end “the era of nation building.”
“All actions should be oriented around this goal [of stopping the spread of radical Islam], and any country which shares this goal will be our ally,” Trump said. “We cannot always choose our friends, but we can never fail to recognize our enemies.”
Trump wants to create an “international conference” to work with Israel, Egypt and Jordan “and all others who recognize this ideology of death must be extinguished.”
The Trump event started on time – unlike a near four-hour delay during Clinton’s July 30 campaign stop at Youngstown’s East High School – with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaking for a few minutes.
During that time, he said there were no “successful radical Islamic terrorist attacks inside the United States” before Obama started serving as president in January 2009.
Giuliani was mayor of New York when al-Qaida, an Islamic terrorist group, hijacked planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center, destroying the buildings and killing about 2,700 in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. Overall, about 3,000 died in terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 with the rest dying when a plane hit the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and another plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pa.
Also, Giuliani introduced Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Trump’s running mate, to the crowd.
Giuliani, however, apparently forgot where he was, saying that this state’s governor was going to speak next. The crowd was silent, except for a few noticeable gasps, as Kasich, a failed Republican presidential candidate who lost to Trump, has refused to endorse the GOP nominee.
Giuliani then repeated “Youngstown” and “Ohio” a few times primarily to remind himself where he was.
The two gaffes attracted national attention and trended for hours on Twitter.
When Pence came out to introduce Trump and speak for less than five minutes, he also made sure to mention Youngstown.