Hillary Clinton is blasting Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Donald Trump for foreign policy stances she argues would "make America less safe and the world more dangerous."
Clinton spoke at Stanford University one day after terror attacks killed more than 30 people in Brussels, Belgium. The former secretary of state said, "the threat we face from terrorism is real, it is urgent, and it knows no boundaries."
She outlined a three-pronged approach to fighting ISIS: increased bombings in Iraq and Syria; increased anti-terrorism efforts around the world; and ramped up intelligence and security efforts within the United States.
But large portions of the address boiled down to a general election response to hard-line rhetoric coming from Cruz and Trump.
In the hours after the Brussels attacks, Cruz's campaign released a statement saying, "we need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized."
"When Republican candidates like Ted Cruz call for treating American Muslims like criminals, and for racially profiling predominantly Muslim neighborhoods," Clinton countered Wednesday, "It's wrong, it's counterproductive, it's dangerous."
And referencing Cruz's oft-repeated threat to "carpet bomb" ISIS, Clinton argued, "proposing that doesn't make you sound tough. It makes you sound like you're in over your head."
Clinton also defended one of the United States' most high-profile alliances, NATO, days after Trump criticized the European partnership.
"NATO is costing us a fortune and yes, we're protecting Europe but we're spending a lot of money," Trump told the Washington Post this week. "I think NATO as a concept is good, but it is not as good as when it first evolved. ... I'm not even knocking it, I'm just saying I don't think it's fair."
"Turning our back on our alliances, or turning our alliance into a protection racket, would reverse decades of bipartisan American leadership, and send a dangerous single to friend and foe alike," Clinton said. "If Mr. Trump gets his way it will be like Christmas in the Kremlin. It will make America less safe and the world more dangerous."
Trump responded, as he often does, on Twitter. "Just watched Hillary deliver a prepackaged speech on terror," he wrote. "She's been in office fighting terror for 20 years — and look where we are!"
"I will be the best by far in fighting terror," he wrote in a second tweet.
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