Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump failed to quiet doubt within the GOP with a major foreign policy speech on Wednesday, though he did win praise from some corners of the party.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) offered tepid praise for the remarks as “an important step” in moving beyond the “angry rhetoric” that has defined the presidential race.
{mosads}“Today, Donald Trump delivered a very good foreign policy speech in which he laid out his vision for American engagement in the world,” said Corker, with what is likely to be interpreted as an eye toward unifying the party ahead of the general election.
Others were less diplomatic.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a prominent national security hawk and one of the most outspoken critics of Trump, called his remarks “pathetic in terms of understanding the role America plays in the world, how to win [the] war on terror, and [the] threats we face.”
“Ronald Reagan must be rolling over in his grave,” added the former presidential hopeful.
Conservative writer Jennifer Rubin claimed it was riddled with “internal contradictions,” “paranoia” and a “toxic brew of protectionism and isolationism.”
“There’s a lot of contradictory things in the speech,” former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, another ex-GOP presidential candidate who was in attendance Wednesday, told The Hill from the site of Trump’s address in downtown Washington.
“I thought a lot of the speech talked about a pullback and a sense of ‘America first’ and unwillingness to engage except under certain conditions,” he added. “But at the same time, how we’re going to end [the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria] immediately, a lot of interventionist kind of talk.”
In his speech, Trump advocated for an “America first” foreign policy that is deeply skeptical of global institutions such as NATO and major trade pacts.
The address offered few specifics to complement Trump’s previous demands that Washington should reevaluate its relationship with Russia, China and other world powers.
Instead, the GOP front-runner repeatedly returned to his insistence that Americans have been left out to dry with too many obligations around the world, draining U.S. resources and offering little in return.
For his supporters, Trump’s assets are in his willingness to reject decades of foreign policy orthodoxy in favor of American interests.
“Elites have to attack Trump’s foreign policy speech because he is challenging their core values and failures,” former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who ran for president unsuccessfully in 2012, said on Twitter. “To them it is dangerous ideas.”
“Finally, a candidate not living in the 1980s,” added prominent pundit Ann Coulter.