Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump ratcheted up his rhetoric on ISIS during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday morning.
Doubling down on his earlier claims that he would “bomb the sh*t out” of the terrorist organization, the real estate mogul insisted he “would knock the hell out ISIS.”
“I would hit them so had like they’ve never been before,” Trump said. When “Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade raised the possibility of civilian casualties, Trump was undeterred. “I would do my best, absolute best,” he said, regarding trying to avoid collateral damage. “I mean one of the problems that we have and one of the reasons that we’re so ineffective, is they’re trying to, they’re using them as shields. A horrible thing. They’re using them as shields. But we’re fighting a very politically correct war. And the other thing is with the terrorists, you have to take out their families. When you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families. They care about their lives, don’t kid yourself. But they say they don’t care about their lives. You have to take out their families.”
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Throughout the campaign Trump has refused to give specific policy details about how he would defeat ISIS, arguing that he doesn’t “want the enemy to know what I’m doing.” This hasn’t stopped Trump from publicly condemning President Obama’s approach to combating terrorism and his handling of Syrian refugees fleeing ISIS, which he has called “insane.”
Meanwhile, he has been the source of widespread criticism for repeatedly claiming that he saw footage of thousands of Muslims celebrating the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New Jersey in their immediate aftermath. Several news sources have debunked Trump’s assertion, but he still insists that his statements are accurate.
One thing is for certain, the controversies do not appear to be slowing Trump’s momentum in the Republican primary polls. A new Quinnipiac survey shows his already established national lead over the Republican field expanding to 10 points over his closest rival, Sen. Marco Rubio.
Adam Howard