Ted Cruz on Obama’s Foreign Policy: ‘Weakness Is Provocative’
Kate Scanlon /
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has surveyed what he calls “the Obama-Clinton foreign policy,” and he does not like what he sees.
Speaking Wednesday at The Heritage Foundation, Cruz condemned current policy as “appeasement and moral equivalency.”
“When America recedes from the world, the world is more dangerous,” says @SenTedCruz.
Said Cruz: “One of the sad legacies of the last six years” is that “our friends no longer trust us and our enemies no longer fear us,” and that the United States risks going from “the leader of the free world to a dutiful and obedient member of the international community.”
Cruz criticized former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s remarks that we should “respect” and “empathize” with our enemies.
“What our foreign policy needs isn’t empathy,” said Cruz. “We need clarity, force and resolve. When America recedes from the world, the world is more dangerous.”
Cruz denounced the idea that providing “lethal aid” to Ukraine would “provoke” Russian leader Vladimir Putin, saying Putin was “already provoked.”
“Weakness is provocative,” said Cruz.
Sen. Ted Cruz used his foreign policy speech at The Heritage Foundation to criticize former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. (Photo: Raffi Kirdi/Newscom)
Cruz said Putin’s “petro-dictatorship” is weakened by falling oil and gas prices. He said his colleague, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., refers to Russia as “a gas station with a country attached.”
Cruz called Iran the “single greatest threat to our national security.”
“If a nation calls you ‘the great satan,’ it ain’t good,” said Cruz. “Cutting a deal with Iran would be the Obamacare of [the president’s] second term.”
In a humorous moment, Cruz mispronounced former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s name and joked that “it would be easier if his name was Smith.”
Cruz said Israel is “in a tough neighborhood” and deserves to be “vigorously and robustly” supported by the United States.
Cruz hopes “the new occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue” is a “very different president who can be trusted by friend and foe alike.”
He called the “moral equivalency embraced by the administration” between Israel and its enemies a “complete and stunning indictment of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy.”
“Truly, we have gone with Alice through the looking glass,” said Cruz.
In a question-and-answer session after his remarks, Cruz was asked about the CIA torture report recently released by Senate Democrats.
Cruz said that “torture is wrong—period, unambiguously.”
He then called the report “partisan” and a “biased view of what occurred.” He warned that the risk of retaliation is real.
“In a time when the world is on fire, of course you want to harken back to your predecessor,” Cruz said. “Everything, everything, everything is George W. Bush’s fault. Enough already.”
Cruz concluded that in two years, he hopes “the new occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue” is a “very different president who can be trusted by friend and foe alike.”