Trump defends Soleimani killing, doubts Sanders made comment
MILWAUKEE — President Donald Trump defended his decision to kill a top Iranian general and slammed Democrats as weak on national security during a rally in a key battleground state as Democrats held their final debate before primary voting commences.
Offering his own counter-programming, Trump appeared in Wisconsin, just as Democrats took the stage in Iowa, which holds its kickoff caucuses in less than three weeks on Feb. 3.
In front of a crowd of thousands in downtown Milwaukee — not far from where Democrats will hold their convention this summer — Trump took on the leading Democratic candidates, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“Bernie and the radical left cannot protect your family, nor can they protect our country,” Trump told supporters at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
Yet Trump also defended Sanders as he weighed in on the ongoing he-said, she-said spat between Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who claims Sanders told her during a private meeting that he doesn’t believe a woman can win the White House — a charge Sanders vehemently denies.
“I don’t believe that Bernie said that. I really don’t . . . It’s not the kind of thing he’d say,” said Trump.
He also criticized former Vice President Joe Biden’s tendency to mix up locations, including recently confusing Iran with Iraq.
“When you do that you can’t really recover,” Trump said.
Trump supporters began lining up Monday evening outside the arena to make sure they would be able to get inside.
“I think the Wisconsin vote is very important, very important,” said Brenda Stoetzer, 60, from Hickory Hills, Illinois. “And we need to just spread the message here that, you know, Trump is helping the people, the ordinary people. He’s not making the rich richer. He’s making everyone richer.”
Trump spent much of the rally defending his record, including his decision to order the strike that killed top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, whom he labeled the “world’s No. 1 terrorist.”
“The Democrats are outraged that we killed this terrorist monster, even though this monster was behind hundreds and hundreds of deaths,” Trump told the crowd, adding that “thousands of people” don’t have legs and arms right now “because of this son of a bitch.”
Trump also went on an extended riff about his efforts to roll back energy- and watersaving regulations, panning energy-efficient light bulbs and low water flow dishwashers, showers and toilets, which he promised to replace.
“Your dishes are going to be beautiful,” he promised.