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Saturday, July 9, 2016

Donald Trump Vows Torture (Again): 'I Like Waterboarding A Lot'

"I don't think it's tough enough," Trump says of waterboarding.



Donald Trump has reaffirmed his backing of torture.

Speaking at a campaign rally in St. Clairsville, Ohio, he said of the terrorist group ISIS, "We have to fight so viciously and violently because we're dealing with violent people."

"What do you think about waterboarding?"he asked the crowd. "I like it a lot," he said to cheers. "I don't think it's tough enough."

The comments, which came in the wake of the bomb and gun attack on Istanbul's Ataturk airport that killed scores, were "about as Trumpian as you could get," according to one commentator.

Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton, for her part, responded to the Turkish attack by calling for the U.S. to "deepen our cooperation with our allies and partners in the Middle East" to confront terrorism. "Such cooperation is essential to protecting the homeland and keeping our country safe," she said.


The presumptive Republican nominee has previously embraced the torture technique, saying in the last Republican presidential debate before the New Hampshire primary, "I would bring back waterboarding, and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding."

He also said following the deadly Brussels terror attacks in March that if he were commander-in-chief, "waterboarding would be fine," adding, "If they could expand the laws, I would do a lot more than waterboarding."

During the Ohio speech, Trump also denounced the Trans-Pacific Partnership and compared it to rape.

The trade deal was "done and pushed by special interests who want to rape our country, just a continuing rape of our country. That's what it is, too," he said.

Jezebel writer Joanna Rothkopf called it "an obviously despicable turn of phrase for anyone who has been the victim of sexual assault, faces the constant threat of assault, or has any sympathy for people who do."