Presidential race front-runners Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton both responded to the Brussels terror attacksTuesday morning on the Today Show.
Trump’s response was tough and shows he is committed to protecting America’s borders by any means necessary. Clinton’s response was much less tough and focused on solidarity with our European allies.
Since the beginning of Trump’s campaign, border security has been one of his main talking points. Trump’s tough stance on border security is displayed in his response, “I would be very, very tough on the borders, and I would be not allowing certain people into this country without absolute perfect documentation.”
I was under the impression that this was already how our immigration policy worked, but that has come under question since the Syrian refugee crisis began. Trump also said we should be extracting information from captured terrorists by any means necessary. This is in contrast to President Barack Obama’s call to shut down the United States military prison at Guantanamo Bay because it’s “contrary to our values.”
Clinton’s response to the Brussels attack said we have to intensify our efforts to keep America safe. However, she didn’t provide any information on how she was going to this, other than saying that we need to stand in solidarity with our European allies.
If standing in solidarity means working together to eradicate Islamic extremism, then I commend Clinton on her response. Unfortunately, I doubt this is what she meant. In response to border security, Clinton said, “It’s unrealistic to say that we are going to shut down our borders to everyone.” Clearly, this was a response to Trump’s call to temporarily ban certain people from immigrating to the U.S.
It appears Trump is much more serious about keeping America safe. He is not afraid to use serious measures that will work to ensure our safety and to limit future terror attacks from taking place on U.S. soil. Clinton, on the other hand, wants to stand in solidarity with our European allies instead of taking meaningful action.
Clinton does want to intensify efforts to keep America safe, but it’s unclear how she plans to do that. I will feel safer with a president who is going to be tough on the borders and on captured terrorists.
Lucas Whelan
University student