Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Trump, Clinton Struck Very Different Tones in Speeches to Veterans

by Joshua Fatzick

   WASHINGTON --

   U.S. presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both
   delivered speeches this week to crowds full of military veterans, and
   while both speeches emphasized issues important to veterans, the tones
   of the two speeches were strikingly different.

   Trump, who gave his speech Thursday at the American Legion convention
   in Cincinnati, Ohio, focused primarily on what he called his plans to
   rebuild America's military and fix systemic problems at the ailing
   Department of Veterans Affairs.

   While he went after Clinton twice, attacking her in passing for her use
   of a private email server while she was secretary of state and her plan
   to increase the number of Syrian refugees entering the U.S. by 550
   percent, his speech largely centered on policy ideas.

   Trump called for a "total reform" of the VA (Veterans Administration),
   and laid out a 10-point plan to fix the agency that included appointing
   a new secretary, firing employees who fail to live up to his standards,
   ensuring veterans receive timely access to health care and creating a
   commission to search out wrongdoing within the agency.

   "We will rebuild our depleted military, and pursue a state-of-the-art
   missile defense. We will do it based on those three famous words: Peace
   through strength," he said. "We will make sure our soldiers, sailors,
   airmen and Marines have the best equipment, training and tools in the
   world -- and we will ensure that they have the best medical care in the
   world, both in service, and when they return home as civilians."

   Clinton, who spoke at the same venue the previous day, frequently
   attacked Trump -- though she mentioned him by name only once -- for his
   stance on illegal immigration and for comments he previously made
   calling the American military "a disaster."

   "I completely reject anyone, including my opponent, who calls the
   American military, and I quote, 'a disaster,'" she said. "That is an
   insult to the men and women serving today and all who have served
   before who put their lives on the line."

   Clinton went on to outline her ideas of "American exceptionalism" and
   her vision of a strong, effective American military -- even going as
   far as to suggest the use of military force against Russia for its
   alleged involvement in the July hacking of the Democratic National
   Committee.

   "Russia's hacked into a lot of things. China's hacked into a lot of
   things. Russia even hacked into the Democratic National Committee,
   maybe even some state election systems '¦ As president, I will make it
   clear, that the United States will treat cyber-attacks just like any
   other attack. We will be ready with serious political, economic and
   military responses," she said.

   FILE - Demonstrators make their way around downtown, Monday, July 25,
   2016, in Philadelphia, during the first day of the Democratic National
   Convention after some of the 19,000 emails, presumably stolen from the
   DNC by hackers, were posted to the website Wikileaks.

   In late July, the website Wikileaks published a collection of nearly
   20,000 emails obtained from the DNC. Wikileaks did not reveal its
   source, though a hacker who goes by the name of Guccifer 2.0 claimed
   responsibility for the attack.

   Members of the Democratic Party and members of the U.S. intelligence
   community have repeatedly accused Russian intelligence services as
   being behind the hack, but the Russian government has denied any
   involvement and Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, has said there is
   no proof of Russian involvement.

   Clinton's vision of an American military that projects strength across
   the world came in stark contrast to that of Trump, who spoke of
   advancing "Americanism, not globalism," and his plans to secure
   America's southern border with Mexico, which has become a cornerstone
   of his campaign.

   "Above all, these next four years, I will be uncompromising in the
   defense of the United States and our friends and allies," he said. "We
   are going to end the era of nation-building, and create a new foreign
   policy -- joined by our partners in the Middle East -- that is focused
   on destroying ISIS and Radical Islamic Terrorism."

   While Trump spoke of an isolated America, Clinton spoke of an America
   that has a global responsibility to be the standard bearer of justice
   and strength. She said Trump was too ill-informed to lead America's
   military and called him "dangerous" for his past insinuations that,
   under his leadership, America might walk away from its commitment to
   NATO and other global alliances.

   "It's not just that we have the greatest military or that our economy
   is larger than any on Earth. It's also the strength of our values, the
   strength of the American people," she said. "And part of what makes
   America an exceptional nation, is that we are also an indispensable
   nation. In fact, we are the indispensable nation. People all over the
   world look to us and follow our lead."