Outspoken Donald Trump, the keynote speaker at an event presenting slain journalist James Foley with a posthumous First Amendment award in New Hampshire this week, also exercised some of his own freedom of speech rights by using part of his speech to criticize many of the Obama administration policies and failures.
Trump had agreed to speak at the event, sponsored by the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications in Foley's home state of New Hampshire, even before the decision was made to honor the journalist who was filmed being beheaded by Islamic State (ISIS) militants,
reports The Union Leader.
And Trump told Foley's parents, Dr. John and Diane Foley, that their son "was far greater than I and far greater than I ever will be."
“What James was doing at the risk and ultimate loss of his life was telling stories of innocent people caught up in terrible, terrible circumstances,” said Trump. “He did this because he felt those stories needed to be told. And he was right.”
Foley had spent several years reporting from the Middle East, and had been held captive in Libya for 44 days in 2011. He went to Syria in 2012 and was captured that year at around Thanksgiving.
The award honors New Hampshire residents who uphold First Amendment rights,
reports NBC affiliate NECN in New Hampshire.
The event raised $100,000 to help the school offer free journalism classes and workshops. Trump presented a "small" donation of his own, a $25,000 check made out to the James W. Foley Legacy Fund, to Foley’s parents.
While Trump praised Foley, he also slammed the Obama administration during the event,
reports The Concord Monitor, saying that "in the political and economic climate today, I’ve realized very few people are willing to stand up and fight."
Trump said when he "used the word incompetent to describe the president, it’s a very strong word, and I was met with a lot of anger and fury. Now it’s a word that’s commonly used.”
Further, he said he has very little respect for Obama "because I like winners."
In his list of complaints, he noted that Obama is openly mocked by government-controlled papers in China.
Further, he said that the United States is ready to return to Iraq after already spending $2 trillion to fight a war and then leaving. The United States sends weapons to help allies fight ISIS, he complained, but those supplies often end up in enemy hands.
In addition, Trump criticized the government for allowing people who have been to Africa to come to the United States and not be quarantined, even though they could be ill with Ebola.
He also complained that reports of a five percent unemployment rate are not true, saying the real rate is 16 to 18 percent.
Late last month, media writer Jim Romenesko criticized the New Hampshire schools'
decision to pick Trump for its keynote speaker, saying the tycoon is not known as a friend of the media.
Executive director David Tirrell-Wysocki replied that Trump, like other previous speakers who include Vice President Joe Biden, Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, and ABC's George Stephanopoulos, was chosen because "they aren't afraid to speak their minds, something that the First Amendment protects for all Americans."
And Trump said he counts both friends and enemies in the press, The Union Leader reported.
"My entire life has been based on freedom of speech,” he said. “I say what I want to say, [and] as often as I’ve been praised for speaking my mind, I’m often vilified for the same thing.”
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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