‘Not one of Donald Trump’s reckless ideas would have saved a single life in Orlando,’ says Democratic candidate while calling for stricter gun control

The “reckless” proposals floated by Donald Trump would have done nothing to prevent the carnage of the Orlando massacre, Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a national security forum, Clinton continued to challenge her opponent’s preparedness to lead the nation in a time of crisis while declaring Trump “temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified” to assume the role of commander-in-chief.

“Not one of Donald Trump’s reckless ideas would have saved a single life in Orlando,” Clinton said. “A ban on Muslims would not have stopped this attack. Neither would a wall. I don’t know how one builds a wall to keep the internet out,” she told an event in Hampton, Virginia.

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Federal authorities have suggested that Mateen, the man suspected of killing 49 people and wounding another 53 at the gay nightclub Pulse on Sunday, was radicalized online. The FBI is also investigating whether Mateen’s own sexuality was a factor in the attack, amid accounts that he visited gay chat rooms and frequented the club where he went on to carry out mass murder.

Trump has nonetheless reacted to the tragedy, labeled by Barack Obama as both an act of terror and a hate crime, with his signature bluster. The presumptive Republican nominee has reiterated his call for a ban on Muslim immigration to the US, accused Muslims in America of protecting radicals and even suggested the president was complicit with terrorists.

Clinton pointed out again yesterday, that gunman Omar Mateen was born in Queens, New York.

Her event on Wednesday, at the Virginia Air and Space Center, was emblematic of the ways in which Clinton has sought to distinguish herself from Trump. Seated at a roundtable with military families and service members, Clinton offered only brief remarks before engaging in a conversation with attendees that resembled the listening tour she embarked upon when launching her campaign.

Among the topics discussed were the impact of cuts to the defense budget, longstanding gaps in veterans’ care, and how to identify and target lone wolf threats such as the Orlando terrorist. The low-key event aimed to highlight Clinton’s grasp over both foreign and domestic issues – she has long described herself as a policy wonk – while countering Trump’s preference for rallies of which the hallmarks are showmanship and bravado.

“After all the Twitter rants and conspiracy theories we’ve been hearing recently, it’s time for a substantive discussion about how we protect our country,” Clinton said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Donald Trump walks on stage to speak during campaign stop in Atlanta, Georgia. Photograph: Branden Camp/Getty Images

Meanwhile, Trump headlined a rambling and rambunctious rally in Atlanta, where he continued to advocate for his Muslim ban and painted dark warnings of America’s future.

“It’s going to happen again and again and again,” Trump said of the Orlando attack, even adding of the US: “Eventually, it’s not going to survive, just so you understand.”

At every turn since the events in Orlando, which marked the deadliest mass shooting in US history, the two presumptive nominees have put forth visions that could not be more disparate in substance and tone.

Within hours of the attack, while victims underwent lifesaving operations and law enforcement removed the bodies of the slain from the nightclub, Trump congratulated himself on Twitter: “Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism.”

He then denigrated Obama for not using the same phrasing, stating that his soft verbal response alone was reason enough to demand the president “step down”. Obama responded on Tuesday with a blistering rebuttal of Trump and his critics, arguing that semantics alone would alter nothing with respect to the war on terror.

Clinton, echoing the president, said on Wednesday that there were “no magic words” to resolve the threat of terrorism. She also re-emphasized the need for an assault weapons ban and other gun control measures, such as preventing those on the FBI watch list from being able to purchase firearms.

Clinton also redoubled her support for the Muslim communities both at home and abroad that have been under sustained assault by Trump. She deplored Trump’s populist demagoguery, while arguing that for all of his apocalyptic assessments of the nation’s ability to protect itself from acts of terror, Trump has offered no coherent policy prescriptions.

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A CBS News poll found that more than half of voters disapproved of Trump’s handling of the attack. Trump’s net favorability rating was -26 percentage points while Clinton held a marginally positive net favorability of +2 percentage points.

Following Isis-inspired attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, polls consistently show that American voters identify terrorism as a top concern. Given Clinton’s résumé, her campaign believes she is best suited to ease a nation beset by fear of terror attacks and gun violence.

Clinton and her campaign have assailed Trump over his response to Orlando. A new video will showcase an excerpt from her speech in Philadelphia, when she castigated her opponent’s national security agenda, according to CNN.

Voters like Terry Doehring, who attended a Clinton campaign event in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, are taking notice.

Doehring said she was especially moved when Clinton quoted from a letter George HW Bush left for Bill Clinton when he took office in 1993.

“You will be our president when you read this note,” Clinton recited from the letter, admitting that it still brought tears to her eyes after all these years. “I wish you well. I wish your family well. Your success now is our country’s success. I am rooting hard for you. Good luck, George.”

“This proves she is able to appreciate what the other side has to say and to work with them,” Doehring said,

Trump, she added, was too polarizing to unify a deeply partisan nation.



Additional reporting by Ben Jacobs in Washington.

