Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump vowed to launch a "new American foreign policy" which will see the Islamic State (ISIS) "gone quickly, very quickly" once he is elected president.
In a carefully delivered prepared speech on Wednesday, Trump promised an America that is stronger both financially and militarily if he is elected president, Newsmax reports.
Trump said he "will always put the interests of the American people and American security above all else" even as he cited the shortcomings of the nation's foreign policy under President Barack Obama.
Trump delivered the speech at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C. to a small audience consisting mostly of journalists and his campaign staff. It came a day after Trump swept five Northeastern states in Tuesday's primaries.
"It's time to shake the rust off America's foreign policy," Trump said as he listed the five weak points in the nation's foreign policy under President Barack Obama.
First, "President Obama has weakened our military by weakening our economy," he said. "He has crippled us with wasteful spending, massive debt, low growth, a huge trade deficit and open borders."
Second, he said, U.S. allies are "not paying their fair share" and regard the United States as "weak and forgiving and feel no obligation to honor their agreements with us."
Trump said the U.S. "has spent trillions of dollars . . . to provide a strong defence for Europe and Asia," adding that it's about time that they compensate the U.S. for providing them a defensive shield.
He said if they refuse to pay, "the U.S. must be prepared to let these countries defend themselves. We have no choice."
Third, allies believe they can't depend on America because of Obama, who "dislikes our friends and bows to our enemies, something we've never seen before in the history of our country," Trump said.
As an example, he cited the "disastrous deal" with Iran, promising that under his administration, Iran will "never ever be allowed to have that nuclear weapon."
Fourth, Obama allowed China to continue its "economic assault" on American jobs while refusing to enforce trade deals and applying leverage on China to rein in North Korea, Trump said.
"If President Obama's goal had been to weaken America, he could not have done a better job," he said.
Fifth, Obama is leaving behind a foreign policy legacy marked by "weakness, confusion, and disarray," Trump said. "A mess. We've made the Middle East more unstable and chaotic than ever before. We left Christians subject to intense persecution and even genocide."
Meanwhile, pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress predicted a "massive boycott" if GOP officials prevent Trump from winning the party's nomination, Charisma News reports.
Appearing on Fox Business earlier this week, Jeffess said "66 percent of Republicans say they believe whoever comes to Cleveland with the most delegates and votes should win and that would be Donald Trump." he said.
"And I'm going to predict that if the establishment somehow wrestles this nomination away from Trump, even though the rules allow for it, I think you're going to see a massive boycott," said the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas.
