WASHINGTON – Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton is coming to Minnesota on Tuesday to give what is being billed as a major speech to lay out her plan to defeat Islamic terrorists.
Clinton will present her plan in Minneapolis as the state struggles with terrorism recruitment, including the recent arrest of another Minnesotan accused of preparing to join and fight with ISIL.
The former secretary of state is expected to draw a stark contrast between her own plans and those of Republican front-runner and business mogul Donald Trump, who earlier this month called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States.
In previous speeches, including one just last week in Iowa, Clinton has said she hopes to enlist help from Muslims — both in the United States and across the world — in defeating "radical jihadists and the hateful ideology that they represent."
"Instead, Donald Trump is supplying them with new propaganda," Clinton said Dec. 9 in Waterloo. "He is playing right into their hands."
Clinton has worked carefully to avoid alienating Muslim-Americans, saying that demonizing them runs counter to American values and stokes anger that aids terror recruiters.
"We should be supporting them, not scapegoating them," Clinton said at a forum in December. "But at the same time, none of us can close our eyes to the fact that we do face enemies who use Islam to justify slaughtering innocent people. We have to stop them and we will. Radical jihadists, like so many adversaries in our history, underestimate the strength of our national character."
Clinton's speech at the University of Minnesota comes at a time when the country is roiled in a large and complex debate about how to handle the growing threat of terrorism. It also comes on the heels of two prominent attacks — one in Paris and one in California — committed by people who were purported to be inspired by Islamic extremists. A recent Quinnipiac University national poll found that 83 percent of voters said it is very likely or somewhat likely that terrorists will strike the U.S. in the near future, resulting in a large loss of life.
