During a speech in Denver Friday Donald Trump lamented that the Islamic State thinks the United States is “stupid” and charged that Hillary Clinton would be a “weak” president.
Trump, who renewed his calls for torture in the wake of the attacks in Istanbul, complained that while Islamic State terrorists carry out beheadings, the United States has ended its practice of waterboarding.
“They think we are so stupid. They think we are so weak,” he said in remarks at the Western Conservative Summit. “The only thing they understand is strength and toughness.”
He then called Hillary Clinton a “weak person.”
“They will not understand Hillary,” Trump said of ISIL terrorists.
“They want her to get in so badly,” he continued. “They have dreams at night, and their dreams are that Hillary Clinton becomes president of our country.”
Experts who monitor online chatter among Islamic State adherents have told TPM that in fact jihadis express excitement at the prospect of a Trump presidency because it will help reinforce their message that the West is anti-Muslim. They also envision Trump bogging the United States down in a land war in the Middle East that will weaken the lone remaining superpower.
Trump also knocked Secretary of State John Kerry for breaking his leg in a bike accident while in Switzerland for negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program.
“I promise you, I swear to you, I will never be in a bicycle race during a major negotiation,” Trump told the crowd in Denver.
