Steve Schmidt: Clinton Has ‘Huge Vulnerabilities’ on Foreign Policy

‘There has not been a secretary of state who had a more incompetent performance than Hillary Clinton in the modern era’

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:

GEIST: “Kristen, this is a guy who doesn’t buy advertising and he doesn’t have to because he puts up something like that on Instagram, a 15-second clip or whatever that was. Ets picked up all over the place. An effective message? Is that a good way to go after Hillary Clinton?” 
SOLTIS ANDERSON: “It’s going to be interesting because this contrast between strength and weakness is something Donald Trump has used to destroy all of his opponents thus far in the Republican primary and he wants to take that to a general election. But the question of whether or not Hillary Clinton is tough, voters may think snot trustworthy or too liberal, her unfavorables are low but they don’t think she’s weak or a pushover so it will be interesting to see if he’s able to make the case against her he’s been making against the Marco Rubios and Jeb Bushes of the world.” 
SCARBOROUGH: “Steve Schmidt, I don’t know that that’s a place to go: Hillary Clinton has been far her 30 to 40 years in public office one of the test political figures on the scene. She’s endured more in one decade than politically most endure their entire life.” 
SCHMIDT: “No doubt. But if we go back and survey the political field over the course of this campaign, for sure the craziest answer anyone’s given to any question was Jeb Bush. “Knowing then what we know now, would we have done Iraq again?” And Jeb Bush says yes. What is Hillary Clinton say when that question is out if her with regard to Libya? And so talk about national security, we talk about foreign policy. What are the successes from a national security perspective of this administration. Where is America stronger in the world. Where are we more respected in the world? Where are her successes as secretary of state? There has not been a secretary of state who had a more incompetent performance than Hillary Clinton in the modern era. This is going to be exploited in this general election campaign and I believe he’s setting that — setting the stage.” 
SCARBOROUGH: “Why do you say that?” 
SCHMIDT: “This was an administration that began by sending to the United Kingdom back the Winston Churchill statue that was in the oval office. The “Atlantic” this month, an American president taking the special relationship outside of the privacy of it and attacking a British prime minister publicly on a range of issues. Outside of Iran, outside of Cuba where is the United States stronger and more respected internationally and globally than we were before January 20 of 2009? The world is in chaos, the country is unmoored from a global strategy and I think she was the architect over the first four years of the administration. Huge vulnerabilities.”
HALPERIN: “As a matter of political strategies, Donald Trump and Karl Rove share one view. Don’t shy away from your opponent’s perceived strength, go after it. George Bush went after John McCain for being corrupt when McCain’s reputation was being honest and not corrupt. They went after John Kerry on his war record when it was thought because Kerry served that might be an advantage. I believe Donald Trump looks at not just the factual record as Steve has outlined it on the administration’s foreign policy but he looks at Hillary Clinton’s perceived strength on that and says ‘I’m not going to yield that, I’m going to go right at her strength and try to demolish it by saying she’s not an effective leader.’” 
SCARBOROUGH: “She supported regime change in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
HALPERIN: “He will ask the question of Steve —“ 
SCARBOROUGH: “Doubled down in Afghanistan.” 
HALPERIN: “If he’s the nominee, he’ll have a version of what Steve said. Name countries in the world where the United States has better relationships now than before Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton took office and he’ll say the correct answers are Cuba and Iran. And that answer will not play particularly well in certain parts of the country.”
BRZEZINSKI: “Hmm. Well, I think this has been argue T argument all along but he has got to get a team and he’s got to get some names standing by his side that make people feel more confident than ‘I talk to myself. And I have a great brain.’ I mean, this is incredibly dire situation around the globe that call for very specific language.” 
SCARBOROUGH: “There is no doubt it’s time to start bringing people around him. Again, as Mark reported yesterday and we’re hearing, he’s starting to reach out and call a lot of people. We’ll see if that continue.”

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