Trump stumbles through national security event
In a rambling and incoherent appearance today at an event with the Retired American Warriors (RAW) PAC, Trump once again revealed just how little he knows about our military and national security. When asked about how he would defeat ISIS, Trump—who has no real plan to defeat the Islamic State—deflected by criticizing President Obama. He repeatedly disparaged the military and once again doubled down on his bigoted call for racial profiling. Trump even commented on the “newness” of Russia’s nuclear capability. We’re not even going to touch that one.
Here are Trump’s most egregious lies from today’s event:
LIE #1: TRUMP FALSELY CLAIMS THAT “OUR ARMED FORCES” ARE “DEPLETED”
THE LIE: TRUMP: “Speaking of failure, when we do our question and answer period, you look at what’s happened with our Navy in terms of the number of ships and our armed forces generally, how they are so depleted, how they are at almost record-setting lows and in some cases absolute record-setting lows, it is very very unfortunate and very very dangerous for our country.” [Herndon, VA, 10/3/16]
THE TRUTH: PolitiFact said that Donald Trump’s claim that our military has been “totally depleted” was untrue. “‘Our military’ has been ‘totally depleted.’ While military spending has decreased, the United States’ defense budget is larger than the next seven to eight countries combined. And while the number of ground troops and Navy ships have shrunk, size is no guarantee of military might. In fact, experts say the Army and Navy of today are much more capable than they were decades ago.” [PolitiFact, 6/22/16]
LIE #2: TRUMP FALSELY CLAIMS THAT OUR MILITARY IS “GOING AWAY”
THE LIE: TRUMP: “The Navy, Air Force, Marines. Everything is going away. At a time when certainly we are at a top priority for making sure that doesn’t happen. We are not respected to the extent that we were. We keep going like this, we won’t be respected at all. ” [Herndon, VA, 10/3/16]
THE TRUTH: PolitiFact: “Experts say the Army and Navy of today are much more capable than they were decades ago.” “‘Our military’ has been ‘totally depleted.’ While military spending has decreased, the United States’ defense budget is larger than the next seven to eight countries combined. And while the number of ground troops and Navy ships have shrunk, size is no guarantee of military might. In fact, experts say the Army and Navy of today are much more capable than they were decades ago.” [PolitiFact, 6/22/16]
LIE #3: TRUMP NONSENSICALLY SAYS THE U.S. SHOULD HAVE “KEPT THE OIL”
THE LIE: TRUMP: “And when it comes to the military, you know, I always say keep the oil. I said don’t go in. But I said keep the oil. Had we kept the oil, you wouldn’t have ISIS because they fueled their growth with the oil. ” [Herndon, VA, 10/3/16]
THE TRUTH: Washington Post Fact Checker said that Donald Trump’s claim that the U.S. “should have kept the oil in Iraq” was “nonsensical.” “‘I have long said that we should have kept the oil in Iraq.’ This is nonsensical. The Bush administration invested a lot of diplomatic effort in assuring Middle Eastern allies that the United States was not invading because of Iraq’s oil fields. Moreover, oil revenue was crucial to ensuring a functioning Iraqi state — which is why insurgents often targeted the oil sector in Iraq. In any event, seizing the oil of a sovereign nation after invading it would be considered a ‘grave breach’ of the Geneva Convention, one of the cornerstones of international law, as well as other international agreements. Maybe Trump’s staff should arrange a tutorial on international law.” [Washington Post, 8/16/16]
Donald Trump’s assertion that the U.S. should have taken Iraqi oil was a plan that would be in violation of the Geneva Conventions. “Seizing Middle Eastern oil is a decade-old Trump idea, but it contradicts both his own positions as well as international law. Trump is right that oil is a major source of funding for the terrorist group, but he’s not the only one aware of this. The United States has been targeting ISIS’ oil assets since the beginning of the air campaign in 2014. Trump did not detail how the United States would have been able to take and control the oil fields of a sovereign country, but it would have required invading Iraq (which Trump falsely says he was against from the beginning), maintaining a U.S. presence there and convincing the Iraqi government to give up their claims on their own resources. And there’s also the Geneva Conventions, which Trump has already proposed to violate by calling for the deaths of families of terrorists. International law prohibits destroying or seizing enemy property.” [PolitiFact, 8/15/16]