PHILADELPHIA — There was scant discussion of national security and the threat of radical Islamic terror during the first two sessions of the Democratic convention. That changes on Wednesday.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign this evening is rolling out a series of convention speakers with military and foreign policy credentials to vouch for the Democratic nominee as a commander in chief with the smarts and toughness to stand up to defeat the Islamic State and keep Americans safe.
In doing so, Republican nominee Donald Trump will be attacked as a dictator-coddling apologist for Russian strongman Vladimir Putin who is temperamentally unfit for the presidency and whose policies would undermine U.S. national security.
Jake Sullivan, Clinton’s chief foreign policy advisor, said that the ongoing threat posed by the Islamic State and — specifically — the “radical jihadist terror” attacks the group has inspired in San Bernardino, Calif., Orlando, Fla., and in Europe would be addressed from the convention stage.
The breadth of the Clinton’s foreign policy message, if delivered as Sullivan previewed, would answer Republican criticism that the former secretary of state’s convention was ignoring an issue that matters to voters and critical for any aspiring president to address.
But it also would present a case against the Republican nominee on foreign policy that his GOP critics have long argued is the most effective line of attack against him — one that might motivate independents and soft partisans on the right to question support for his candidacy.
“We will also hear tonight from a variety of speakers about why Donald Trump is simply temperamentally unfit and unqualified to be commander in chief,” Sullivan told reporters, “whether you’re talking about his strange policy ideas, like having more countries get nuclear weapons or his … telling our military to go commit war crimes if he orders them to.”
Sullivan continued: “At same time, we will hear about Donald Trump’s bizarre and occasionally obsequious fascination with dictators and strongmen the world over, whether you’re taking about Saddam Hussein, or the Korean Dictator Kim Jong Il, or of course Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.”
The line of attack on Trump Sullivan laid out is reminiscent of a speech Clinton delivered in San Diego last month in which the Democratic nominee mocked her Republican opponent as borderline crazy and criticized his foreign policy as dangerous.
It’s not a risk-free debate for Clinton to engage in.
The U.S. has in the last year endured two Islamic State-inspired terror attacks, including the worst attack on American soil since Sept. 11, 2001.
Clinton is vulnerable to criticism that she failed to provide adequate security for the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that was attacked by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2012, resulting in the murder of four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
Then there’s Clinton’s use of a private email server during her tenure at the State Department. The federal investigation didn’t result in an indictment. But FBI Director James Comey said that Clinton mishandled classified information and was careless. Trump has climbed back into the race while relentlessly hammering her on this.
To beef up Clinton’s image, which has taken a hit since Comey’s stinging rebuke earlier this month, the convention on Wednesday will feature several former military and Defense Department officials to speak on her behalf.
“All of them will speak from their perspective about temperament, judgment and the experience needed in a commander in chief — the kind of person they want leading this nation’s armed forces,” Sullivan said. “They will talk about why it is that Hillary Clinton has that unique combination of attributes to be able to successfully carry the mantle of that job.”
To undermine Clinton, Republicans have focused on President Obama’s stubborn refusal to refer to Islamic State-inspired terror attacks as “radical Islamic terror” and criticized the two of them for using the attacks to promote gun control.
It’s apart of Trump’s strategy to suggest that Clinton is not just responsible for the terror attacks because she supports Obama’s “failed” national security policies, but that she can’t keep the country safe if she doesn’t understand the nature of the threat.
To drive the point home even more, Trump and the Republicans criticized Clinton’s convention on Monday and Tuesday for its minimal focus on national security, and over the fact that none of the speakers mentioned the Islamic State specifically.
That changed Tuesday, and Clinton campaign press secretary Brian Fallon said that the theme of Wednesday’s session was always planned as the evening that would focus on foreign policy and national security.
“There’s no more urgent priority to her than making sure that the threat of radical jihadist terrorism, which we have seen come home to roost in San Bernardino and Orlando and in many of our partner countries around Europe is stopped, pushed back and is ultimately defeated,” Sullivan said. “You will hear about that tonight.”
