US president describes a world ‘in trouble’ in speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, amid a growing number of disputes with foreign leaders

Donald Trump defended his unpredictable approach to foreign policy, which has shaken the political establishment and roiled activists across the country, during a speech at the annual interfaith prayer breakfast in Washington on Thursday.

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The new administration has faced sustained backlash over an order which suspends the country’s refugee program and temporarily bars entry to the US to people from seven Muslim-majority countries.

“The world is in trouble – but we’re going to straighten it out, OK?” Trump said at the National Prayer Breakfast, gesturing his hands for emphasis.

“That’s what I do. I fix things. We’re going to straighten it out. Believe me. When you hear about the tough phone calls I’m having – don’t worry about it. Just don’t worry about it. They’re tough. We have to be tough, it’s time we’re going to be a little bit tough, folks. We’re taken advantage by every nation in the world, virtually. It’s not going to happen any more.”

The breakfast came hours after news reports detailed an extraordinary phone call between Trump and the Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, which was abruptly ended by Trump. The president reportedly bragged about the size of his electoral victory – despite losing the popular vote – but grew cross when Turnbull asserted that the US should honor an agreement struck by Barack Obama to accept 1,250 refugees from an Australian detention center. Overnight Trump tweeted that he would “study this dumb deal!”

Later White House press secretary Sean Spicer indicated the deal remained alive but said each of the refugees would have to go through “extreme vetting” before entering the US to ensure that they come with “peaceful intentions” and do not pose a threat to America. He said Trump was “unbelievably disappointed” about the “horrible deal” agreed between Turnbull and Barack Obama last year. And he claimed the call between the two leaders was “cordial”.

It also emerged on Wednesday that Trump had apparently threatened to send troops into Mexico to stop the “bad hombres down there” unless the country did a better job of controlling drug trafficking, in a call with Enrique Peña Nieto, the Mexican president. Peña Nieto recently canceled a meeting with Trump amid a row over whether his country would pay for the wall along the countries’ shared border.

During his speech on Thursday morning, Trump painted a vision of a world in chaos, scarred by “unimaginable violence carried out in the name of religion”. He spoke of the brutalization of “peace-loving Muslims”, the “threats of extermination” against the Jewish people and a “genocide against Christians, where they cut off heads – not since the Middle Ages have we seen that”.

Trump also said that the administration is days away from finalizing what he has called an “extreme vetting” system for immigrants and refugees, which he said would “ensure that those admitted into our country fully embrace our values of religious and personal liberty and that they reject any form of oppression and discrimination”.

“We want people to come into our nation, but we want people to love us and to love our values, not to hate us and to hate our values,” Trump said.

The US has one of the longest and most rigorous vetting processes for refugees in the western world. It can take up to two years for refugees to be resettled in the country and it is unclear how the administration intends to expand this process.

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Trump promised to “get rid of and totally destroy” the so-called Johnson amendment, a provision prohibiting tax-exempt organizations such as churches from publicly endorsing political candidates. He repeatedly pledged to repeal the amendment during his campaign, joking: “I figure that’s one way I’m getting to heaven.”

Trump did not announce an executive order expanding “religious freedom”, which some had expected him to do. On Wednesday night, the Investigative Fund and the Nation published what they said was a leaked draft proposal of the order, which could allow LGBTQ employees to be fired or refused service by individuals or companies professing a religious objection.

Asked at his press briefing about these plans and whether “religious freedom” was code for discrimination against gay people, Spicer said the president believed that “we shouldn’t impose a religion on anybody”, and said that there were several potential orders under consideration on how to ensure that.

He cited the example of a Catholic organization being required to provide contraception under the Affordable Care Act as an example of infringement on religious freedom.

“We have freedom of religion in this country, and I think people should be able to practice their religion, express their religion, express areas of their faith without reprisal,” Spicer said. “And I think that pendulum sometimes swings the other way in the name of political correctness.”

Later Spicer addressed a number of other global concerns. At his daily press briefing, he described the Treasury Department’s decision to ease some economic sanctions against Russia imposed by the Obama administration as “a regular course of action”.

And in response to mounting questions about a deadly raid in Yemen that killed a Navy Seal as well as civilians, Spicer said that the White House considered it a “successful operation”. He said it was difficult to call it a success because of the Chief Petty Officer William “Ryan” Owens has lost his life.

An Iranian missile test and an attack on a Saudi warship by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen would “not go unresponded to” Spicer said, a day after Trump’s the national security adviser, Michael Flynn, said Tehran was officially “on notice”.

Earlier the Republican House speaker, Paul Ryan, had continued to defend Trump’s controversial travel ban, insisting the moratorium on immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries was not based on religion.

“This is not a Muslim ban. If it were, I would be against it,” the House speaker told reporters in a press conference on Thursday on Capitol Hill.

“This loose rhetoric that suggests this is a religious test or Muslim ban is wrong.”

Ryan, who forcefully condemned Trump’s proposal to ban all Muslims from the US during the 2016 campaign, pointed to previous legislation in Congress that aimed to crack down on immigration from countries deemed to be “high risk”.

Ryan also downplayed the significance of language in Trump’s executive order stating that only religious minorities will be granted preference upon the renewal of refugee admissions from the Muslim-majority countries identified.

“Religious minorities are being persecuted,” Ryan said, while adding “there’s nothing wrong” with prioritizing them for entry.

At the prayer breakfast earlier Trump was introduced by Mark Burnett, producer of The Apprentice, who flattered the president by attributing the source of inspiration for his successful career to Trump’s book The Art of the Deal.

When it was Trump’s turn at the podium, he couldn’t resist the opportunity to boast about the reality show’s success during his time as host – and taunt his replacement, the former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“And I want to just pray for Arnold if we can, for those ratings,” Trump said, drawing laughs after saying the show “went down the tubes” once he left.

In a video posted on Twitter soon after the president’s remarks, Schwarzenegger suggested the pair should switch jobs: “You take over TV, because you’re such an expert in ratings, and I take over your job, then people can finally sleep comfortably again.”

The audience at the prayer breakfast included Vice-President Mike Pence, who Trump praised as a “12” on a scale of 10; faith leaders from around the country; members of Congress; and two foreign dignitaries: King Abdullah of Jordan, and Samy Badibanga, the prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo.