John Kerry: Presidential Campaign Descending into 'Embarrassment' for US
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – US Secretary of State John Kerry said in an interview broadcast Sunday that US election-year political rhetoric has become “an embarrassment to our country” in foreign capitals.
“Everywhere I go, every leader I meet, they ask about what is happening in America. They cannot believe it,” Kerry said late Sunday, in response to a question about overseas reaction to statements by Republicans in the wake of last week’s terrorist attacks in Brussels.
“I think it is fair to say that they’re shocked… It upsets people’s sense of equilibrium about our steadiness, about our reliability. And to some degree, I must say to you, some of the questions, the way they’re posed to me, it’s clear to me that what’s happening is an embarrassment to our country,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
After the March 22 attacks in the Belgian capital, Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas called for police to “patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized.” GOP front-runner Donald Trump, who has proposed temporarily barring Muslims from entering the US, endorsed torturing a suspected terrorist.
Kerry, a former US senator, was the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee.
On Sunday Kerry also said Americans traveling to Europe should be alert for potential danger.
“Avoid a crowded place where you have no control over who may be there,” he said. “Have a sense of vigilance.”
He added, “People do not have to live in fear. But it doesn’t mean you should be oblivious to your surroundings… I would not tell any friend of mine or member of my family, ‘Don’t travel to Europe or elsewhere.’ But I would say, ‘Do so with an awareness of what you’re choosing to do, what activity you undertake and where you are.’”
