Trump touts 'peace through strength' approach to ease global tensions

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday vowed to pursue "peace through strength" to lessen global tensions.

Trump touted his record in avoiding foreign conflicts, saying "for 78 years, no wars started ... I withdrew from Syria. I withdrew from Iraq. I withdrew. They want to put people back."

Trump further asserted that President Joe Biden's perceived weakness on the world stage emboldened hostile actors such as Hamas to become more aggressive.

"They see a weak president in our country and they did something unthinkable," he went on.

"With that being said, you always have to be prepared," Trump added, highlighting his efforts to bolster NATO by encouraging member nations to meet their defense spending targets.

He particularly pointed to comments from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban urging Americans to support Trump's return to the White House to achieve world peace.

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Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that up to 18 million illegal immigrants would be inside the United States by the end of the Biden administration.

Pressed on his plan to take on sanctuary cities amid an large-scale of influxes in illegal border crossings.

"They're gonna be ended because the Democrats are gonna end them because they can't sustain it," Trump said. "This country cannot sustain 15 or 16 million people, because I think that's the real number. I think by the time his administration ends and, hopefully quickly, it's gonna be 18 million people. That's bigger than New York State."

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Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday indicated he had already made a selection as to who would serve as his vice president in a prospective second term, but declined to name his choice.

Trump made the remark in a town hall event with Fox News ahead of the Iowa Caucus on Monday.

"If you are the nominee ... who would be in the running for Vice President?" Fox's Martha MacCallum asked.

"I can't tell you that really," he told the moderators. "I know who it's gonna be.... We'll do another show sometime."

Pressed on the prospect of repairing his relationships with Republican primary rivals, Trump quipped that "I've already started to like Christie better," after the former New Jersey governor dropped out of the race the same day.

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Early in the event Trump fielded a question from a voter who insisted his friends did not plan to vote for him due to fears Trump's detractors would bring four years of "chaos" in retaliation.

Trump, for his part, insisted that the current state of the nation presented an already chaotic scene and that in his first administration it was the Democrats who caused the chaos.

"We have chaos now... we have I think more with Joe Biden," Trump said. "I think most of the chaos was caused by the Democrats constantly going after me... The FISA warrants, the lying to congress."

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The network's Brett Baier and Martha MacCallum moderated the event.

Two of Trump's rivals, meanwhile, participated in a CNN debate between Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, which was held concurrently with the town hall. Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy appeared on Timcast the same evening.

Trump currently boasts 52.2% support in the Hawkeye State, according to RealClearPolitics. Haley currently places second with 16.6% support to DeSantis's 16.4%.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.