republican presidential candidate donald trump on sunday defended his criticism that hillary clinton<u+2019>s campaign success is based largely on her being a female candidate and dismissed assertions about him having a soft foreign policy.









<u+201c>the only card she has is the woman card,<u+201d> trump told <u+201c>fox news sunday.<u+201d> <u+201c>even women don<u+2019>t like her. if she were not a woman, she would not even be in this race.<u+201d>









the billionaire businessman resumed his clinton attack following









 his sweep in five northeast primary contests, saying tuesday that <u+201c>the only card she has is the woman's card. and frankly, if hillary clinton were a man, i don't think she'd get 5 percent of the vote.<u+201d>



















the front-running trump also dismissed criticism that he sounded like a liberal democrat in his foreign policy speech last week by suggesting the united states scale back in the middle east and focus on domestic spending.









<u+201c>we need to knock off isis and get out of there,<u+201d> said trump, who nevertheless continues to argue that overthrowing dictators has been a failed foreign policy strategy that has led to instability in the middle east.









<u+201c>every move we've made in the middle east has been wrong,<u+201d> he said, arguing other countries should pay more to protect the world and that more taxpayer money must go to u.s. infrastructure.<u+201d>









<u+201c>we can<u+2019>t have this anymore,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>we are spending all of our money in the middle east. we need to strengthen our military and pull back <u+2026> in the meantime our country is becoming third world.<u+00a0><u+2026> i will be tougher than<u+201d> clinton.









gop primary rival texas sen. ted cruz told abc<u+2019>s <u+201c>this week<u+201d> that trump's policy speech <u+201c>reflects a weak and naive approach to foreign policy.<u+201d>









trump also argued that his attacks on clinton are no worse than those of her primary challenger, vermont sen. bernie sanders, who has questioned the former secretary of state<u+2019>s qualifications.









while both clinton and trump<u+2019>s favorability ratings among women are low, trump<u+2019>s are worse, especially among female general election voters.









however, trump argued sunday that his numbers will improve if and when he faces clinton in the general election.









<u+201c>once i start on hillary, the numbers will change,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>watch what happens with hillary. watch what happens with her numbers.<u+201d>
trump replays clinton 'woman card,' defends 'pull out' middle east strategy
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