FIVE THINGS ABOUT ELECTION FORUM

1 PRAISE FOR PUTIN

Donald Trump came in for criticism Thursday following a Wednesday night national security forum when he said America’s generals had been “reduced to rubble” under Barack Obama. The Republican then praised Russian President Vladimir Putin saying “it’s a very different system and I don’t happen to like the system, but certainly, in that system, ( Putin’s) been a leader, far more than our president.”

2 AN INSULT

Trump’s Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, blasted him for the comments. “That is not just unpatriotic and insulting to the people of our country, as well as to our commander in chief, it is scary because it suggests he will let Putin do whatever Putin wants to do.”

3 ISIL FOR TRUMP

Clinton claimed leaders of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terror group were praying for Trump to win the U.S. election. ISIL would view a victory for Trump as a “gift” from Allah, she said. “They have said that they hope that he is the president because it would give even more motivation to every jihadi.”

4 SCHOOL CHOICE

Trump said as president he would redirect $ 20 billion in his first budget proposal to expand school choice for poor children. “The parents will be so happy,” he said. “No. 1, we’ll have safe streets; and No. 2, they’ll walk their children to schools they want to be at.”

5 THE POLLS

In an Ohio poll average compiled by RealClearPolitics, Clinton leads by 3.3 percentage points in a two-way race.