President Donald Trump claimed at a prayer breakfast on Thursday that there is no need to “worry” about reports that he is lambasting other world leaders during phone calls and threatening military incursions into their countries.
“The world is in trouble, but we are going to straighten it out, okay?” Trump said at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. “Believe me, when you hear about the tough phone calls I’m having, don’t worry about it. Just don’t worry about it. They’re tough. We have to be tough. It’s time we’re going to be a little tough, folks.”
He appeared to be responding to reports published Wednesday evening alleging that Trump had taken on an aggressive tone in phone calls with the leaders of Mexico and Australia, two traditional allies of the United States.
Trump claimed on Thursday that the United States is “taken advantage of by every nation in the world” and said he will put a stop to that.
“We have seen unimaginable violence carried out in the name of religion,” Trump said.
He condemned “acts of wanton slaughter” against religious minorities and praised retired Marine General James “Mad Dog” Mattis, who the Senate recently confirmed as secretary of defense.
“So you watch. You just watch. Things will be different,” Trump said.
He cited the murder of “peace-loving Muslims” by the Islamic State.
“We have seen threats of extermination against the Jewish people. We have seen a campaign of ISIS and genocide against Christians where they cut off heads,” Trump said. “Not since the Middle Ages have we seen that. We haven’t seen that. The cutting off of heads. Now they cut off the heads, they drown people in steel cages, haven’t seen this, haven’t seen this, nobody’s seen this for many, many years.”
He said that all nations have a “duty” to confront such violence “viciously” if necessary.
Trump in a phone call on Friday with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto reportedly threatened to send U.S. troops to stop “bad hombres down there” unless the Mexican military does more to control them.
During a phone call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Wednesday, Trump continued his tough talk, reportedly railing against a deal between Australia and the United States to accept more than 1,000 refugees from Australia. Trump accused the country of trying to send the “next Boston bombers” to the U.S., according to a Washington Post report.
Trump told Turnbull that the call, which was scheduled to last an hour but ended after just 25 minutes, was his “worst call by far” with a world leader that day.
