© Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump leads the press around on a tour after a press conference at the Old Post Office Pavilion, soon to be a Trump International Hotel, in Washington…
Republican and Democratic presidential candidates delivered sharply contrasting responses to the deadly terrorist attacks that shook Brussels on Tuesday, with the GOP contenders fiercely criticizing President Obama's national security policies and voicing support for a more aggressive posture, and the leading Democratic hopeful's campaign warning against "advocating torture or bigotry."
The reactions, coming on a day when three more states will hold nominating contests, mostly mirrored the input the candidates have offered in response to previous attacks, such as the massacre in Paris last fall. They contained little in the way of policy specifics and they also raised the possibility of deepening fault lines between and within the two political parties.
Speaking with reporters in Washington, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) accused GOP front-runner Donald Trump of wanting to withdraw the United States from NATO. Separately, Cruz issued a written statement arguing that the U.S. should "empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized," but he did not provide specifics on how he envisioned that happening.
"NATO should join with the United States in utterly destroying ISIS," Cruz told reporters, using an acronym for the Islamic State, "and I would note that NATO is ready to act in a way that our president is not."
Trump has not said that the United States should withdraw from NATO, but he questioned U.S. involvement in the organization and said in an interview with The Washington Post editorial board that it may need to be diminished in the future.
On Twitter, Trump sought to belittle Obama, who spoke about the Brussels attacks from Cuba, where he is making a historic visit. "President Obama looks and sounds so ridiculous making his speech in Cuba, especially in the shadows of Brussels. He is being treated badly!" Trump tweeted.
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