Donald Trump Brags of Being "Right" About Terrorism After Tragic Brussels Attacks

Trump called Obama’s Cuba speech “ridiculous,” then used the Brussels attacks to promote his own campaign.

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Complex Original

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Donald Trump quickly commented on the Brussels terror attacks on Tuesday, taking aim at President Barack Obama before using the tragedy to promote his own campaign. The attacks, which ABC News reports have now been claimed by ISIS, left more than 30 people dead and another 170 wounded following explosions at an airport and a subway station. Obama expressed the dire need for international unity in the wake of these attacks during his speech from Cuba early Tuesday, promising to do "whatever is necessary" to support Belgium.

"Look at Brussels, look at Paris, look at so many cities that were great cities," Trump told Fox News just hours after the attacks were first reported, as quoted byVox. Adding that he would "close up [American] borders to people until we figure out what is going on," Trump later took to NBC to double down on that disturbing promise. "Waterboarding would be fine and if they could expand the laws, I would do a lot more than waterboarding," Trump said during an appearance on Today, according to Bloomberg. "You have to get the information and you have to get it rapidly."

Taking his bizarrely timed publicity blitz to Twitter, Trump vaguely insisted it was time to "get tough" while repeatedly bragging about how "correct" he's been regarding terrorism. "I have proven to be far more correct about terrorism than anybody," Trump tweeted on Tuesday, adding that "hopefully" voters in Arizona and Utah remember that as they head to their respective primaries:

"Time and time again I have been right about terrorism," Trump tweeted again minutes after that initial brag, linking to a clip from earlier this year of one of his many Fox News appearances. Earlier Tuesday morning, Trump said Obama looked and sounded “so ridiculous” when sending a message of unity to the people of Brussels from Cuba:

Trump's rush to speak publicly on the Brussels attacks despite the lack of information surrounding initial reports is troubling, though certainly not shocking. A crucial component of Trump's campaign platform has been his repeated proposal of both a Muslim database system and a massive wall along the Mexico border, two talking points Trump appears to believe might benefit from dubiously casting them in the shadow of Tuesday's attacks in Brussels.

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