Donald Trump, responding to the mass slaughter that targeted gays in Florida over the weekend, said on Monday the "anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-American" Islamic State (ISIS) must be defeated — something that will be a top priority of his administration.
"The horror is beyond description," Trump said in a 30-minute national security speech in Manchester, New Hampshire. "It is an attack on the right of every single American to live in peace and safety."
After asking for a moment of silence for the 49 people who died when Omar Mateen opened fire at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Trump reiterated his plan to temporarily ban Muslims and those from countries with terrorist ties from entering the U.S. "until we figure out what the hell is going on."
The presumptive GOP presidential nominee also attacked what he called the failed policies of the Obama administration as well as what would he believes would be a ruinous four years for the nation if Hillary Clinton was to win the White House.
He said "thousands and thousands of people, many of whom have the same thought process as this savage killer" — whose name he insisted he will never say — are pouring into the U.S.
The ban, Trump said, would be lifted only "when and as a nation we are in a position to properly and perfectly screen these people coming into our country."
"We have to screen applicants to know whether they are affiliated with or supporting radical groups and beliefs," Trump said.
"We have to control the amount of future immigration in this country and we have to prevent large pockets of radicalization from forming inside America."
Clinton, Trump said, has "no clue, in my opinion, what radical Islam is, and she won’t speak honestly about it if she does, in fact, know."
He also accused the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee of wanting to abolish the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms, which would leave "only the bad guys, terrorists with guns."
"Not gonna happen," said Trump, who has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association which opposes tighter restrictions on gun ownership.
Trump also claimed "hundreds of thousands" of Muslim immigrants are coming into the United States without proper screening — something he said he would put an immediate stop to.
"I refuse to allow America to become a place where gay people, Christian people, Jewish people are targets of persecution and intimidation by radical Islamic preachers of hate and violence. This is not just a national security issue. It's a quality of life issue," Trump said.
He said of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community targeted by Mateen who was carrying an assault-style rifle when he entered the Pulse nightclub: "It's an assault on the ability of free people to live their lives, love who they want and express their identity."
Trump said Clinton has supported lax immigration policies that have allowed terrorists to slip through and has let political correctness stop her from speaking the truth about "Islamic extremists."
"Hillary Clinton can never claim to be a friend of the gay community as long as she continues to support immigration policies that bring Islamic extremists to our country and who suppress women, gays and anyone who doesn't share our values," he said.
Earlier in the day,
Clinton insisted on CNN’s "New Day" that she's not afraid to say "radical" Islam.
"From my perspective, it matters what we do more than what we say. And it mattered we got [Osama] bin Laden, not what name we called him. I have clearly said we — whether you call it radical jihadism or radical Islamism, I'm happy to say either. I think they mean the same thing."
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