Trump praises Sisi and blames Obama’s Cairo trip for ISIS

Donald Trump placed blamed for the inception of ISIS on President Barack Obama and current democratic nominee for President, Hilary Clinton in a speech he gave on Monday. In the speech, the Republican nominee also outlined his vision for combating terrorism and groups such as ISIS.

Delivered on the campaign trail in key electoral state Ohio, the speech painted a grisly picture of a world on fire. Trump went on to detail a number of terror attacks that have taken place in the US and Europe over recent years, linking them a number of times to immigrants and refugees throughout the 48-minute speech.

He argued at length that before Obama took office the region was by far better off than it is today, contending for instance that “Libya was stable, Syria was under control.”

Trump also made reference to former autocrat Hosni Mubarak saying, “Egypt was ruled by a secular president and an ally of the United States.” He contrasted this with the current situation, telling his audience that terrorists have occupied the Sinai Desert, and now pose a threat to the Suez Canal.

Trump went on to praise the role of Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in combatting terrorism, praising him as someone who “recognizes this ideology of death that must be extinguished.”

In his characteristic inflammatory style, the speech centered on Trump’s evocation of a clash of civilizations, situating ISIS in this ideological battle, and comparing the fight against the group to Ronald Reagan’s battle to overcome communism.

Tracing the rise of ISIS to a visit Obama made to the Middle East shortly after he took office in 2008, Trump labeled that trip “President Obama’s global ‘Apology Tour.”

No mention is made of the Arab Spring nor the leadership of former Republican president George Bush following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Towers, who took the US to war in Iraq based on intelligence that was later proved to be flawed.

In his 2009 speech at Cairo University, Obama was seen to express some regret about previous US foreign policy in the region and pledging that his administration would engage differently.

“Perhaps no speech was more misguided than President Obama’s speech to the Muslim World delivered in Cairo, Egypt, in 2009,” Trump said.

Current President Barack Obama remarked in a recent interview that he believed Trump was unfit to serve as commander in chief.