Donald Trump's policy speech in which he revealed his plans to defeat the Islamic State and protect American soil from terrorism was also made in a bid to inject some life into his stalled presidential campaign, according to CNN.
"Trump didn't just stake out a strategy for waging an 'extreme' and 'vicious' campaign against ISIS on Monday. He also articulated one for reviving his flailing campaign," CNN's Stephen Collinson writes.
"Having boasted last year that his approval ratings spiked after terror attacks, Trump sought on Monday to harness and intensify a climate of fear and vengeance, and then pin its causes on the current president [Barack Obama] and his former secretary of state [Hillary Clinton]."
Collinson says Trump, the Republican presidential nominee whose poll numbers have dropped in recent weeks, is relying on his "hawkish stance striking a nerve with a scared public looking for strong leadership."
"The question now for Trump is whether his teleprompter-based assault, which lacked the spontaneity of his earlier stump speeches, can succeed after the serial setbacks of recent weeks … [which] have inflicted too much damage already for his message to resonate," he says.
Trump has made several damaging remarks in the past month. He warred with the parents of a slain Muslim-American soldier, seemingly encouraged Russian hackers to dig for Clinton emails and suggested "Second Amendment people" could deal with her. The latter comment was interpreted by some as a veiled threat of violence.
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