NEW YORK/washington - Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump promised Wednesday a top-to-bottom overhaul of US foreign policy to put "America First" and make its allies pay up.
In a speech short on specifics that left Washington policy experts scratching their heads, Trump warned that Europe and Asia may have to defend themselves. He vowed to tear up trade deals, re-tool NATO to oppose migration and "radical Islam" and put US national interests ahead of all other considerations.
"'America First' will be the major and overriding theme of my administration," he said, co-opting the slogan of America's pre-World War II isolationists. The speech had been billed to give Trump, the clear frontrunner for the Republican nomination, a chance to win over a skeptical foreign policy establishment. But many were quick to point out the contradictions in a strategy of restoring US strength and crushing the Islamic State group while cutting allies loose. "Our foreign policy is a complete disaster," he said, dismissing all presidents to have served since the Cold War, both Republicans and Democrats.
"We're rebuilding other countries while weakening our own," he said, decrying nation-building missions in the Middle East and the US trade deficit with China. "Our allies are not paying their fair share," he said, pointing the finger at both NATO and close Asian allies such as Japan and South Korea. "The countries we are defending must pay for the cost of this defense. And if not, the US must be prepared to let these countries defend themselves. "We have no choice," he warned, complaining of the "trillions of dollars" he claimed have been wasted shoring up Cold War-era defenses.
Despite this, he quickly pivoted to an attack on President Barack Obama -- accusing him of abandoning US allies like Israel while reaching out to Iran. "We picked fights with our oldest friends and now they're starting to look elsewhere for help. Remember that. Not good," Trump declared. He was clear, however, on where the greatest threat to the United States now lies, accusing Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton of a refusal to name it. "Containing the spread of radical Islam must be a major foreign policy goal of the United States and, indeed, the world," he said. David Pollock, a former senior State Department advisor and now Washington Institute fellow, said the speech would help Trump with Washington experts.
"It seemed to be a more appealing presentation and Trump themes in a softer and smarter way, but left many questions unanswered," he told AFP. "So people are probably kind of taking a skeptical stance but then see what he follows up with," he said. "And a key test of that will be what kind of new advisors he can find who will publicly side with him and join the team."
Trump has been widely mocked for failing to secure big-name foreign policy endorsements and relying on a coterie of right-wing fringe figures. But he defended his team, slamming the available talent in Washington circles as tainted by the chaos unleashed under President George W. Bush.
Donald Trump completed a five-state sweep in Tuesday’s Republican primaries, and declared himself the party's "presumptive" nominee for president in the face of allied opposition from rivals US Senator Ted Cruz and Ohio governor John Kasich.
In the Democratic race, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton won four of the five states in play on Tuesday: Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania. US Senator Bernie Sanders won the primary in Rhode Island.
Of the two front-runners, Clinton - who won four states Tuesday - remains closer to clinching the nomination. She now has nearly 90 percent of the delegates needed to secure the party nod, even as Senator Bernie Sanders vows to keep fighting.
Looking past their fading rivals, the two even taunted each other in dueling election-night events. Clinton chided the Republican’s penchant for harsh language by saying that “love trumps hate.” Trump was more bluntly dismissive of Clinton, saying her appeal boiled down to her gender. “Frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don’t think she would get 5 percent of the vote,” Trump said.
As far as I'm concerned, it's over," Trump said in claiming easy victories in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware. He said, "this is a far bigger win than we even expected — all five."
Citing a large number of delegates and votes in the face of Republican establishment opposition, the billionaire businessman said "the best way to beat the system" is to have evenings like this.
Cruz and Kasich, who have formed a loose alliance to try to block Trump in some future contests, are hoping to pick up some delegates after Tuesday's primaries, but their totals will likely be minimal in the wake of Trump's landslide wins.
While his rivals argue that Trump would lose the fall election to Clinton, Trump said during his victory rally that he would beat the Democrat easily, and that the only thing she has going for her is "the women's card ... If Hillary Clinton were a man, I don't think she'd get 5% of the vote."
The Republican front-runner also said that Cruz and Kasich are hurting themselves with their "faulty deal," and both should exit the Republican race because they "have no path — zero path — to victory."
Cruz, headed for a third-place finish behind Kasich in many of Tuesday's contests, dismissed the results even before they were announced, reminding supporters in Indiana that the northeast is Trump's home region. The Texas senator said his campaign now "moves back to more favorable terrain," starting next week in Indiana and ending June 7 in California.
Trump also vowed to take Indiana, calling it "a great state" where he has "many, many friends."
Both Trump and Clinton, who also scored primary wins Tuesday, began turning toward each other over the prospect of a fall election battle. Clinton said Trump is dividing the nation, while Trump said "Crooked Hillary" would be a weak president.
The Republican front-runner also said the Democratic Party has treated Clinton opponent Bernie Sanders badly, and the senator should run in the fall as an independent.
Coming off a big win a week ago in his home state of New York, Trump seemed poised to move within striking distance of the 1,237 delegates he needs for a first-ballot victory at the Republican convention in July. While Trump may collect more than 100 of the 172 delegates at stake on Tuesday, his precise total is uncertain. In Pennsylvania, 54 delegates are not bound to any particular candidate, though they can endorse one.
Trump entered Tuesday's contests with 845 delegates, according to the Associated Press, followed by Cruz at 559 and Kasich at 148.
In claiming his latest victories, Trump called for Republican unity behind his candidacy, though Cruz and Kasich have vowed to continue fighting up until the convention opens July 18 in Cleveland.
Anti-Trump political action committees also vowed to soldier on. “Even if the media yearns to declare this race over, the path to 1,237 delegates remains narrow for Trump, and he just left the most favourable part of the map for him in the northeast," said Rory Cooper, a senior adviser for the organization #NeverTrump. Little more than a month to go before the end of primary season, there is some question as to how solid the newly formed partnership between Cruz and Kasich is. For one thing, the agreement covers only three states. Kasich has agreed not to campaign against Cruz in next week's Indiana primary, while Cruz plans to defer to Kasich in Oregon on May 17 and New Mexico on June 7.
Kasich, however, says his supporters in Indiana are still free to vote for him, and he spent part of Tuesday in Indianapolis visiting with potential delegates and fundraisers, as well as Republican Gov. Mike Pence. Appearing on NBC's Today show, Kasich called the agreement “a matter of resources” and said he doesn't “tell voters what to do."Trump has mocked the Cruz-Kasich alliance effort, calling it "collusion" that won't work.
On the Democratic side, Senator Bernie Sanders won only the primary in Rhode Island and fell further behind Clinton in their race to amass 2,383 Democratic delegates to clinch the nomination. Clinton advisers predicted late Tuesday night that she was poised to net roughly 50 more pledged delegates than Sanders, out of 462 up for grabs, adding to her lead of about 240 going into the primaries.
Clinton advisers said Tuesday’s final delegate tally would reveal not if, but when, Clinton would win the nomination: either in early June, if she continues at her current pace, or as soon as the Kentucky and Oregon primaries on May 17, if she does better than expected in the coming weeks, once her support from more than 500 superdelegates is included. Superdelegates could switch their votes at any point, but Clinton’s are widely considered to be staunch supporters.
Clinton predicted that she would return to Philadelphia this summer for the Democratic convention “with the most votes and the most pledged delegates.”
She pledged to heal the party’s wounds after a long nomination fight, telling Sanders supporters that “there is much more that unites us than divides us.” But she also looked past Sanders to take a swipe at Trump and his campaign motto, “Make America Great Again.”
“Despite what other candidates say, we believe in the goodness of our people and the greatness of our nation,” Clinton said.
Sanders, speaking Tuesday night to an audience of 6,500 people in West Virginia, which votes May 10, said emphatically that he would stay in the race. He made an unusually pointed appeal to superdelegates, arguing that he had won more votes from independents and from Republicans than Clinton and would be a stronger general election candidate.
After the rally, however, Sanders issued a statement saying he would go to the Democratic convention in July “with as many delegates as possible to fight for a progressive party platform” — a remark that some Democrats interpreted as his first acknowledgment that he would not attend the convention as the nominee.