Hillary Clinton slammed Donald Trump for his foreign policy, saying he would be a dangerous commander in chief. | Getty Clinton warns electing Trump would be 'historic mistake' 'He is not someone who should ever have the nuclear codes,' the former secretary of state declares. 
 
 Hillary Clinton torched Donald Trump on Thursday, completely overlooking Bernie Sanders as she cast the presumptive Republican nominee as a dangerous commander in chief whose election would be “a historic mistake.” 
 
 “Americans aren’t just electing a president in November, we’re choosing our next commander in chief, the person we count on to decide questions of war and peace, life and death,” Clinton said during a much-hyped foreign policy speech in San Diego. “And like many across our country and around the world, I believe the person the Republicans have nominated for president cannot do the job.” 
 
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 In what was her most forceful critique of the man she’s likely to spar with this fall — though she has yet to win enough pledged delegates to claim the Democratic nomination — Clinton derided the billionaire businessman for his controversial rhetoric, be it from his tweets or what he says in front of the cameras. 
 
 “The stakes in global statecraft are infinitely higher and complex than the world of luxury hotels. We all know the tools Donald Trump brings to the table: bragging, mocking, composing nasty tweets. I'm willing to bet he's writing a few right now,” the former secretary of state said. “But those tools won't do the trick. Rather than solving global crises, he would create new ones.” 
 
 Trump, in fact, had tweeted his latest attack at Clinton just minutes before that comment. “Bad performance by Crooked Hillary Clinton! Reading poorly from the telepromter!” he wrote. “She doesn't even look presidential!” 
 
 The real estate mogul had also offered a prebuttal to Clinton’s speech, writing in a series of tweets that she “has zero talent,” “should not be president” and that Sanders was right when he suggested she was unqualified to be president “because she suffers from BAD judgement.” 
 
 Trump also questioned her temperament and decision-making before warning that Clinton was “getting ready to totally misrepresent my foreign policy positions.” 
 
 Clinton returned Trump’s attack-line questioning her temperament, declaring him “temperamentally unfit” for the White House while also slamming his “dangerously incoherent” ideas — if you can call them that. 
 
 “They’re not even really ideas, just a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds and outright lies,” she said. “He is not just unprepared, he is temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense responsibility.” 
 
 Clinton expressed her support of President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, arguing that the accord made the U.S. safer while questioning Trump’s experience and knowledge of the deal. 
 
 “You know, there's no risk of people losing their lives if you blow up a golf course deal,” she said. “But it doesn't work like that in world affairs.” 
 
 She blasted his “loose talk” of banning Muslims from entering the U.S., remarking that it plays into the hands of terrorists and demonizes a large portion of the world’s population. 
 
 “It alienates the very countries we need to help us win in this fight. A Trump presidency would embolden ISIS. We cannot take that risk,” she said. “This isn't reality television. This is actual reality.” 
 
 Defeating terrorists and protecting Americans at home requires “more than empty talk and a handful of slogans,” Clinton said, continuing her verbal assault. “It takes a real plan, real experience and real leadership. Donald Trump lacks all three.” 
 
 Clinton implored Americans to think about the impact a President Trump would have on future generations. 
 
 “He is not someone who should ever have the nuclear codes because it’s not hard to imagine Donald Trump leading us into war just because somebody got under his very thin skin,” she said. 
 
 Clinton sent her speechwriters an outline of what she wanted to say 10 days ago and, after her foreign policy advisers collaborated with them to create the initial draft, spent the final few days honing her remarks, a Clinton aide said. 
 
 During a rally in Sacramento on Wednesday, Trump claimed he saw a copy of Clinton’s forthcoming speech. “And it was such lies about my foreign policy that they said I want Japan to get nuclear weapons,” he said. “Give me a break.” 
 
 Trump, however, suggested during an April interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace that Japan should defend itself against North Korea, “including with nukes.” That followed his comment during a March town hall with CNN’s Anderson Cooper in which he argued that Japan would eventually arm itself with nuclear weapons anyway, calling it “only a question of time.” 
 
 And while Clinton did highlight Trump’s call for arming Japan with nuclear weapons, she didn’t stop there, also noting his calls for waterboarding as a torture tactic, his neutral stance in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and what she mocked as an apparent obsession with foreign dictators, including Kim Jong Un of North Korea and Vladimir Putin of Russia. 
 
 “Now I will leave it to the psychiatrists to explain his affection for tyrants. I just wonder how anyone could be so wrong about who America's real friends are,” she said. “Because it matters. If you don't know exactly who you're dealing with, men like Putin will eat your lunch.” 
 
 Trump’s suggestion that America is a weak embarrassment with a disastrous military are the words of someone who doesn’t know America, according to the former secretary of state, U.S. senator and first lady, who contrasted her experience with the reality star’s. 
 
 “Imagine Donald Trump sitting in the Situation Room making life-or-death decisions on behalf of the United States. Imagine him deciding whether to send your spouses or children into battle. Imagine if he had not just his Twitter account at his disposal when he’s angry but America’s entire arsenal,” Clinton said. “Do we want him making those calls? Someone thin-skinned and quick to anger who lashes out at the smallest criticism?” 
 
 “He has no ideas on education, no ideas on innovation. He has a lot of ideas about who to blame, but no clue about what to do,” she said. “None of what Donald Trump is offering will make America stronger at home. And that would make us weaker in the world.” 
 
 Clinton urged voters not to let anybody tell them America isn’t great because Trump has it wrong. She also outlined two very different paths that come with either the election of Trump or her — one based on anger, fear and the notion that America is weak and in decline; the other based on a hopeful, generous and confident America that has always been great. 
 
 “Making Donald Trump our commander in chief would be a historic mistake and it would undo so much of the work that Republicans and Democrats alike have done over many decades to make America stronger and more secure,” she said. “It would set back our standing in the world more than anything in recent memory, and it would fuel an ugly narrative about who we are, that we’re fearful, not confident, that we want to let others determine our future for us instead of shaping our own destiny. That’s not the America I know and love.” 
 
 ||||| Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gives an address on national security, Thursday, June 2, 2016, in San Diego, Calif. (AP Photo/John Locher) (Associated Press) 
 
 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gives an address on national security, Thursday, June 2, 2016, in San Diego, Calif. (AP Photo/John Locher) (Associated Press) 
 
 SAN DIEGO (AP) — In a full-throated general election attack, Hillary Clinton lambasted Donald Trump's foreign policy vision Thursday as one of war, international turmoil and economic crisis. She contrasted that with what she portrayed as her optimistic, inclusive and diplomatic view of the world, born from her long experience in public life. 
 
 There was nothing diplomatic in her remarks, a clear indication of how she'll take Trump on. Electing him, she said, would be "a historic mistake." 
 
 During a speech in San Diego, the former secretary of state unloaded on her likely presidential election opponent, counting down reasons he is not qualified — from his aggressive Twitter attacks to his emotional outbursts. 
 
 "He is not just unprepared; he is temperamentally unfit," she told several hundred people gathered in a ballroom. "We cannot let him roll the dice with America." 
 
 She predicted dire consequences if he is elected, saying a Trump presidency could lead the U.S. into war abroad, spark nuclear conflicts and ignite economic catastrophe at home. 
 
 "There's no risk of people losing their lives if you blow up a golf course deal, but it doesn't work like that in world affairs," Clinton said. "The stakes in global statecraft are infinitely higher and more complex than in the world of luxury hotels. 
 
 She mocked Trump's Twitter blasts and predicted he was preparing more as she spoke. As if on cue, he tweeted immediately after she finished: "Bad performance by Crooked Hillary Clinton! Reading poorly from the telepromter! She doesn't even look presidential!" 
 
 Clinton's robust assault on Trump also was widely carried on television, a change for the leading Democratic candidate who's frequently struggled to break through coverage of Trump. 
 
 It came as she is ramping up her criticism of the presumptive Republican nominee and trying to quell concerns within her own party that she doesn't have a plan of attack for the general election. Clinton's campaign wants to show she is ready to take the fight to Trump. Supporters have spent the past week assailing him on housing and veterans' issues. 
 
 In Thursday's speech, she sought to prove that she is ready to rumble with the famously combative Trump. She offered a number of aggressive new attack lines, at times baiting Trump to respond by calling him "thin skinned." 
 
 She hit Trump for his reality television past, for his snarky Twitter feed, for his hotelier experience. 
 
 She ran down a list of people he has insulted, including the pope. 
 
 And she assailed Trump over many past statements, criticizing him for seeking to ban Muslims from entering the country, for talking about leaving NATO and for suggesting Japan could one day acquire nuclear weapons. 
 
 "He has the gall to say prisoners of war like John McCain aren't heroes," Clinton said. "He says he has foreign policy experience because he ran the Miss Universe pageant." 
 
 Emphasizing her experience as first lady, senator and secretary of state, Clinton said she would provide the steady diplomacy the country needs. She said that unlike Trump, she knew how to negotiate complex deals, understood world affairs and recognized what it means to deploy American troops. 
 
 Clinton and Trump offer starkly different visions of U.S. foreign policy. Clinton's detail-oriented proposals reflect the traditional approach of both major parties. Despite differences on some issues, such as the Iraq war and Iran, Democratic and Republican presidents have been generally consistent on policies affecting China, Russia, North Korea, nuclear proliferation, trade, alliances and many other issues. 
 
 Trump says U.S. foreign policy has failed. His strong-man "America first" approach is short on details but appeals to the emotions of angry voters who believe that successive leaders have weakened the country, made it vulnerable to terrorism and have been duped into bad trade deals that have cost American jobs. 
 
 Trump accused Clinton of lying about his foreign policy plans at a rally at an airport hangar in Sacramento, California, Wednesday night. 
 
 "She lies. She made a speech and she's making another one tomorrow. And they sent me a copy of the speech and it was such lies about my foreign policy," Trump said. 
 
 "They said I want Japan ... to get nuclear weapons. Give me a break," he objected. "I want Japan and Germany and Saudi Arabia and South Korea and many of the NATO nations — they owe us tremendous. We're taking care of all these people. And what I want them to do is pay up." 
 
 Trump has suggested in the past that he might be OK with Japan one day obtaining nuclear weapons. 
 
 Clinton's campaign hopes her foreign policy experience will help her win over independent and moderate Republican voters who may be wary of Trump's bombastic style and lack of international experience. 
 
 In recent days, Clinton has criticized Trump over his past business practices, his sometimes-slow-to-be-fulfilled promises to raise money for veterans and his now defunct education company, Trump University. On Wednesday she called Trump a "fraud" and said the real estate mogul had taken advantage of vulnerable Americans. 
 
 Trump has pushed back. On the education company, he has maintained that customers were overwhelmingly satisfied with the offerings. 
 
 While Clinton is stressing her concerns about Trump, she is still dealing with her primary race. She needs just 70 more delegates from states voting Tuesday to win the Democratic primary, but is dealing with a tough fight with rival Bernie Sanders in California. ||||| 21:35 
 
 In a prescient piece, the Guardian’s Scott Lemieux argued today that Donald Trump’s bashing of a federal judge based on his ethnicity crossed a line. 
 
 When US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel unsealed a hoard of highly unflattering documents this week about Trump University, Donald Trump responded the way one would expect: with bullying and race-baiting. 
 
 “They ought to look into Judge Curiel,” Trump declared, “because what Judge Curiel is doing is a total disgrace.” Trump also asserted that the Indiana-born Curiel “happens to be, we believe, Mexican, which is great”. Trump also called for Curiel to recuse himself … on the grounds that he made decisions Trump disagreed with. 
 
 His attacks exemplify, yet again, why the prospect of a President Trump is terrifying. First of all, they suggest a rather cavalier attitude towards judicial independence. Politicians are, needless to say, free to publicly criticize judges, even when they’re one of the parties before the court. But the call to “look into” Curiel crosses a line towards being threatening. 
 
 Admittedly, there are limits to how much Trump could threaten judicial independence from the White House. Article III of the consitution provides various tools that could theoretically undermine the independence of the courts – packing federal courts with additional members selected by the president, stripping the courts of jurisdiction and removal from office. All of these actions, however, would require an act of Congress. Given that FDR’s proposal to pack the courts was rejected by Congress in the aftermath of a historic landslide in the 1936 presidential election, it’s unlikely that even a Trump-friendly Republican Congress would take such extreme measures. 
 
 But there’s still reason for concern. Would Trump be willing to abide by adverse rulings? And how much in general would Trump feel bound by legal constraints? ||||| Tweet with a location 
 
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– As promised, Hillary Clinton on Thursday went after Donald Trump in major fashion, warning that he'd be dangerous to both the nation and the world as president. Some of the lines generating the most attention, via Politico, the Guardian, the AP, and the Washington Post: “Donald Trump’s ideas aren’t just different, they’re dangerously incoherent. They’re not even really ideas, just a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds, and outright lies." "Making Donald Trump our commander-in-chief would be a historic mistake." “He is not just unprepared, he is temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability, and immense responsibility." "He should not have the nuclear codes because it’s very easy to imagine Donald Trump leading us into a war just because someone got under his very thin skin." "There's no risk of people losing their lives if you blow up a golf course deal, but it doesn't work like that in world affairs. ... The stakes in global statecraft are infinitely higher and more complex than in the world of luxury hotels." "I will leave it to the psychiatrist to explain his affection for tyrants. (Referring to his positive statements about Vladimir Putin and others.) I just wonder how anyone could be so wrong about who America's real friends are." And from Trump: He tweeted, “Bad performance by Crooked Hillary Clinton! Reading poorly from the telepromter [sic]! She doesn’t even look presidential!”