USA TODAY International Edition
Trump: Hillary could shoot someone, not get charged
GOP candidate lauds Reagan, rips both Clintons at rally in Florida
PENSACOLA, FLA. Virtually all of the promises Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump made about increasing military strength incited cheers from a near- capacity crowd Friday night in the Pensacola Bay Center, but one in particular triggered a venue- shaking roar.
“By the way, with Iran, when they circle our destroyers with their little pipes and they make gestures at our people that they shouldn’t be allowed to make, they will be shot out of the water,” Trump said to thousands of active and retired military personnel.
Trump spoke for about an hour to a crowd estimated at 12,000. He promised to increase all branches of the military, destroy NAFTA, create better- paying jobs, negotiate from a position of strength, establish school choice and abolish Common Core.
The GOP nominee criticized President Obama and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for what he called their ineffectiveness. He described Clinton as corrupt and untouchable.
“She’s being so protected. She could walk into this arena right now and shoot somebody with 20,000 people watching, right smack in the middle of the heart, and she wouldn’t be prosecuted, OK?” Trump said.
That comment notwithstanding, Trump hurled fewer insults than he did on a January visit here. And when five opponents spoke up, he stood calmly and waited for security to escort the group out. In January, he urged security to kick out protesters.
Trump spoke about negotiating from a position of strength. He said Navy ships will increase to 350, there will be 540,000 soldiers in the Army, 1,200 Air Force combat fighter jets and 36 Marine Corps battalions.
His plans for an increased military presence appealed to a significant number of active and retired military in the crowd.
“I was on the USS Enterprise when Ronald Reagan was president, and we had 600 ships,” said Navy veteran Ray White, who lives in Navarre, Fla. “I don’t think our adversaries respect us like they once did. I think they will if Donald Trump is our president. Donald Trump is Ronald Reagan- esque.”
Trump lauded Reagan for negotiating only on his terms, and he said he will follow his cue. The crowd erupted in cheers when Trump repeated his campaignlong promise to build a wall to stop illegal immigrants coming to the United States from Mexico.
“We will build the wall and Mexico will pay for it,” he said.
Trump lambasted former president Bill Clinton for signing the North American Free Trade Agreement. He said he would scrap NAFTA and keep jobs in the United States.
“We’re not going to let them take our jobs anymore,” Trump said. “I’ll be the greatest jobs president that God ever created.”
The business mogul took another swipe at Bill Clinton for implying his slogan, “Make America Great Again,” is racist.
“If you’re a white Southerner, you know exactly what it means,” Bill Clinton said earlier in the week in Orlando. “I’ll give you the economy you had 50 years ago, and I’ll move you back up the social totem pole and others down.”
Trump pointed out that Bill Clinton said the same thing on multiple occasions when he ran for president in 1992.
“Bill Clinton repeatedly used the exact same phrase — Make America great. Racist, racist,” Trump said. “It’s just one more Clinton lie.”
Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani. who introduced Trump, blasted Hillary Clinton for “lying to FBI agents” about emailing classified information and for deprioritizing the military. He said Trump is clearly the better option for the U. S. with fears of terrorist attacks on the rise.
“When ( Russian President) Vladimir Putin sits down with Donald Trump, he’s going to sit down with a man who has the strongest Army, the strongest Navy, the strongest Air Force, the strongest Marines and the strongest Special Forces in the history of the world,” Giuliani said. “That’s negotiating from strength.”
Trump scoffed at the claim by Clinton that he is on friendly terms with Putin, but he said he is OK with partnering with Russia to destroy ISIS.
“If Russia wants to pay billions of dollars to help us get rid of ISIS, I’m all for it,” he said.
“I’ll be the greatest jobs president that God ever created.” GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, in Pensacola, Fla.