AYR, SCOTLAND - JULY 30:  Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump drives a golf buggy during his visits to his Scottish golf course Turnberry on July 30, 2015 in Ayr, Scotland. Donald Trump answered questions from the media at a press conference held in his hotel.  (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
The Tough Guy
AYR, SCOTLAND - JULY 30:  Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump drives a golf buggy during his visits to his Scottish golf course Turnberry on July 30, 2015 in Ayr, Scotland. Donald Trump answered questions from the media at a press conference held in his hotel.  (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
The Tough Guy

Donald Trump wants to knock our enemies, whatever that means, and he’s going to get tough, whatever that means, and he thinks Hillary isn't tough and that terrorists want her.

She is a weak and ineffective person. Just remember. Hillary Clinton — and they are looking — oooh, they want her so badly. They want her so badly.

Trump says the terrorists want Hillary. But what do the terrorists say?

In some quarters of the dark internet, where supporters of the Islamic State and other extremist groups linger, the presumptive GOP nominee has emerged a rallying point of sorts. To them, he is the “perfect enemy,” as one Islamic State defector told a researcher interviewed by TPM, and they are using his posturing to advance their own agenda, according to another analyst.

And they don’t just mean that Trump’s a great recruiting tool because of his racial and religious bigotry.

The replies that followed predicted that Trump “ will be a disaster to America,” while celebrating that he could bring the end-of-days battle in Syria that jihadists call for.

“Trump's governance will be the destroyer of America and its traitor Arab allies," one commenter said.

Trump’s ignorant and prejudiced assaults on all Muslims rather than on specific terrorists serve a unifying purpose that groups like ISIS can’t achieve on their own. But that’s not the only reason that such groups would prefer Trump in charge. There’s a general consensus that he would be a weak and ignorant enemy.

According to Alkhouri, the jihadist supporters' desire to see Trump become president is two prong. One one hand, they think he will weaken the United States -- politically, economically and internationally -- and thus is a figure to be mocked. On the other, Trump has also made promises to be more aggressive with the Islamic State -- such as “I would hit ISIS so hard you wouldn’t believe it” -- that they believe will drive home their us-against-the-West messaging.

The idea that Trump would actually weaken the US position in the world is worth considering when noting that Trump is popular in Russia, but much less popular with our traditional allies.

Just 9% of Europeans surveyed have confidence in the presumptive Republican nominee to do the right thing in world affairs, according to a new Pew Research Center poll Wednesday.

In Trump, those who want America to be weaker see an opportunity, and those who want America to remain in a leadership position see a problem.

And while Donald Trump may claim Hillary is weak, that’s not the way other nations see it.

China's military, which is ramping up its presence in the South China Sea as part of a major modernisation programme, is also watching the election closely.

"Hillary is very fierce when it comes to China," a Chinese official close to the military establishment told Reuters. …

"As far as she's concerned, being tough on foreign policy is perhaps the best way to show America's so-called 'leadership'," it said in a commentary.

China remembers Hillary as an "Iron Lady" for her brave speech on equality and rights of women, and she hasn’t been afraid to offend Chinese leaders.

In 1995, the then-First Lady essentially called the Communist Party sexist right on its home turf. Beijing’s visceral reaction to a recent Clinton tweet demonstrates how raw those nerves are two decades on. In September, she slammed President Xi Jinping for “hosting a meeting on women’s rights at the UN while persecuting feminists? Shameless.” Clinton also voiced support for the #FreeThe20Campaign, a movement working to release activist Wang Yu and others from detention.

But they do have a reason to like Donald Trump.

"Who is Trump? We don't really know. We do know he hates Muslims though - and that will be well received in some circles here," said the Chinese official with ties to the military, pointing to what China views as its war on terror in its Muslim-populated far western region of Xinjiang.

Hillary is hated because she champions equality. Trump is loved because he hates the right people. And China is already considering how to neutralize a know-nothing Trump.

A President Trump, all bombast and no strategy, would get nowhere with Beijing. … Beijing could silence Trump by dumping its Treasuries or excluding the U.S. from trade pacts. A businessman through and through, Trump would learn the art of the deal with China, and Beijing knows it.

Trump has ISIS, Vladimir Putin, and the Chinese military in his corner—maybe that’s what he means by tough.

But there’s only one person all those groups are actually scared of. And it’s not Trump.


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