Newt Gingrich Says Trump’s ISIS Speech Was Historic

Monday, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump continued his issues-focused assault on his Democratic counterpart, Hillary Clinton, by discussing foreign policy.

In the speech, given in Youngstown, Ohio, he detailed how he would bring the fight to ISIS, if elected, and how he would protect Americans from radical Islamic terrorism. He also discussed his plans to curtail immigration of Muslims from Islamist-compromised nations, and how he would ensure those who come into the country would receive “extreme vetting” over their specific ideologies.

Later, during FOX News Channel’s “Hannity” program, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich praised the speech, calling it “historic.” He likened it to one of the many great speeches given by President Ronald Reagan.

“For the first time in the 37 years since the Iranians illegally seized American hostages, and in the 15 years since al Qaeda killed Americans on 9/11—for the very first time—you had a [presidential candidate] get up and tell the truth,” he said. “He did just a remarkable job, in my judgment, of identifying the enemy, describing accurately how big the problem is,” Gingrich said. “This is, in some ways, the most important foreign policy speech since Ronald Reagan in that it really does set the stage for a debate about what’s threatening us and what we should do about it.

“I think the contrast between what he did—what Donald Trump did and what Hillary Clinton is—couldn’t be clearer. This is a Grand Canyon-wide chasm of two different views.”

The former speaker went on to say Trump’s speech should have quieted his critics. They’ve been saying the GOP nominee lacks specifics in his speeches, but Monday’s offered a “clear roadmap,” Gingrich said, in which he identified the most significant national security threat of the next decade, outlined how the U.S. government has failed to address it, and how he would do things differently as president.

“This was a truly historic speech,” he said. “I’m interested to see if the mainstream media can actually focus on the speech and can actually talk about the difference between the confusion of the Obama-Clinton model and the clarity of the Trump model.”

Gingrich further said that if Trump continued to make his case to the American people in the same manner on other campaign issues, he could win in November in a landslide.