National Security ‘Reconfigures’ GOP Primary

This story originally appeared in The Fiscal Times:

The 2016 presidential race is undergoing a sweeping reconfiguration, with national security taking on new prominence following the recent terrorist attacks in Paris and the downing of Russian fighter jet by Turkey that has the U.S. and its allies calling for calm on both sides.

Not surprisingly, the entire GOP presidential field has blamed President Obama and his policies for the current state of global affairs and, in particular, for the rise of ISIS, which still controls large swaths of territory inside Iraq and Syria.

While the presidential hopefuls have been unanimous in their scorn of the administration, they’ve diverged on how they would handle terrorism, emphasizing different aspects of their resumes to convince voters they are the best choice to keep them safe.

Here are some of the approaches that have stood out:

Donald Trump.
The day before the carnage in Paris that killed 130 people, Trump said he would “bomb the s— out of” ISIS if he were elected.

Since the attacks, the billionaire has called for the “surveillance of certain mosques” and creating a database for Syrian refugees who enter the country. He also wants to bring back waterboarding, an interrogation technique ended by Obama and considered by many to be torture.

“Would I approve waterboarding? You bet you’re ass I would, in a heartbeat,” Trump said Monday at a campaign event in Ohio, adding he would approve “more than that.”

Read the full story at the Fiscal Times.