Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally at Washington High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the United States, Jan. 30, 2016. (Photo: Xinhua/Yin Bogu)
With a touch of sarcasm, U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Thursday tore into presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump because of his temperament.
During her foreign policy speech Thursday, Clinton launched her toughest attack yet against Trump in probably one of her most humorous campaign speeches with a laser focus on Trump's temperament.
"This is not someone who should ever have the nuclear codes," said Clinton. "It's not hard to imagine Donald Trump leading us into a war just because somebody got under his very thin skin."
Trump made it clear in past feuds with GOP opponents and critics that he would punch back harder even for a mild political jab or unflattering news reports.
According to a list compiled by The New York Times, on Twitter Trump had insulted at least 210 individuals, places and things since declaring his presidential candidacy last June, and the list did not include targets of Trump's insults broadcasted on cable.
"Do we want him making those calls -- someone thin-skinned and quick to anger who lashes out at the smallest criticism? Do we want his finger anywhere near the button?" asked Clinton.
Describing Trump as "temperamentally unfit" for the U.S. presidency, Clinton at one point of her speech even made an insinuation about Trump's psychological state.
"I don't understand Donald's bizarre fascination with dictators and strong men who have no love for America," said Clinton, referring to Trump's past praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his announcement that he would depart from current U.S. policies to speak with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's Kim Jong Un if elected.
"I will leave it to the psychiatrists to explain his affection for tyrants," she said.
Responding to Clinton's remarks, Trump later called the speech "a hate speech."
"If people want to win, they need a temperament like mine," said Trump later on Thursday in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. "If people want to stagnate and go down, they need a temperament like Crooked Hillary."
According to a Wall Street Journal/ABC News poll released in May, the majority of Americans think Clinton would be better than Trump to handle foreign policy.
"As Secretary of State, senator, and first lady, I had the honor of representing America abroad and helping shape our foreign policy at home," said Clinton.
"And I have sat in the Situation Room and advised the president on some of the toughest choices he faced," she added.
Though she chronicled her roles in helping mold U.S. foreign policy in the past years, Clinton did not mention her uniquely hands-on role in the U.S. participation in the 2011 NATO bombing of Libya, a war which left the North African country a failed state and a terrorist haven.
While Trump's foreign policy positions would make prime fodder for Democrats' attacks in the general election, Clinton's push for military intervention in another Muslim country in addition to her 2002 Senate vote for the Iraq war would be too prominent a target for her Republican rivals to ignore.
