FULL SPEECH: Newt Gingrich praises Trump, provides cover for Cruz

“Thank you for that very generous welcome. And thank you, Callista. You know, she makes documentary films, and writes a best-selling children’s series on American history. In addition, she sings in the Basilica Choir, and plays the French horn in the Fairfax Band. I am amazed at her achievements.

I’m also proud to be here as a Republican activist to see the extra effort that Donald Trump has invested in bringing the Republican Party together.

With no requirement for endorsement, he encouraged his competitors to speak once again. Governor Rick Perry, Governor Chris Christie, Governor Scott Walker, Dr. Ben Carson, Senator Marco Rubio and Senator Ted Cruz have all responded to Donald Trump’s generosity.

Now, I think you misunderstood one paragraph that Ted Cruz, who was a superb orator, said. And I just want to point it out to you.

Ted Cruz said you can vote your conscience for anyone who will uphold the Constitution. In this election, there is only one candidate who will uphold the Constitution.

So, to paraphrase Ted Cruz, if you want to protect the Constitution of the United States, the only possible candidate this fall is the Trump-Pence Republican ticket. That way, we have a Republican ticket to implement Republican principles in Washington.

Now, what I want to focus on is a subject that has dominated my thinking for decades: How do we keep America safe?

Keeping America safe is the first responsibility of the American president. There have been many fascinating things to watch about the extraordinary, historic rise of Donald Trump.

But the most significant has been Donald Trump’s courage to tell some important truths about our national security.

For example:

—  We are at War.

—  We are at War with Radical Islamists.

—  They are determined to kill us.

—  They are stronger than we admit

—  And are greater in number than we admit.                                             

—  And there is NO substitute for victory.

In contrast to Donald Trump, our national security and foreign policy elites, led by Hillary Clinton, are incapable of speaking with such honesty.

While THEY lie about the threat, WE need to tell the truth about the  danger.

If our enemies had their way, not a single woman in this room could define her future.

If our enemies had their way, not a single Jew or Christian in this room would be alive unless they agreed to submit.

If our enemies had their way, gays, lesbians and transgender citizens would be put to death as they are today in the Islamic State and Iran.

If our enemies had their way, every person on earth would be subject to conversion by the sword and to a cruel and violent system of  laws.

There would be no individual liberty. There would be no equality.

There would be no freedom. If you doubt we are at war…

If you doubt that this threat is as real as I say… Let me refresh your memory:

On Monday, an Afghan refugee in Germany used an axe and knives to slash and wound train passengers while shouting “Allahu Akbar.”                                                   

Last week, ISIS claimed responsibility after a Tunisian man drove a cargo truck into crowd in Nice, France. He murdered 84 people, including at least 10 children and three Americans, and injured over 300 others.

Two weeks ago, more than 300 people were killed and more than 200 were wounded in bombing attacks in Baghdad.

Two days before that, radical Islamists in Bangladesh killed 20 hostages, including 3 American college students.

A few days before that, at the Istanbul airport in Turkey, ISIS attackers armed with guns and bombs killed 44 people and injured a few hundred more.

Last month, a radical Islamist in Paris stalked a French police officer to his home, where he murdered the officer and tortured his wife to death in front of their three-year-old son, while streaming it all on social media.

He was pondering whether to kill the three-year-old when he was killed by police.

Two days before that, an attacker pledging allegiance to ISIS killed 49 people in an Orlando nightclub and wounded dozens more.                                                        

All this in JUST the past 37 days.

We risk growing numb to these accumulating atrocities.

One recent analysis estimated that since January of 2015, some 30,000 people have been killed at the hands of terrorists.

Donald Trump is right.

We are at war with radical Islamists, we are losing the war, and we must change course to win the war.

Let me be very clear, because I know the news media will do their best to distort this.

We have nothing to fear from the vast majority of Muslims in the United States, or around the world.

The vast majority are peaceful. They are often the victims of the violence themselves.

They are people we would be happy to have as our friends and neighbors.

The challenge is, when even a small percentage of a billion, six hundred million people support violence against those who disagree with them, that is still a giant recruiting base.

For example, Pew Research finds that just 9 percent of Muslims in Pakistan support ISIS.

Unfortunately, that 9 percent is 16 million people. And that’s just one country.

So the truth is, although we are losing the war with radical Islamists, we have been very lucky.

The danger we face is much worse than the horrors that happened in Germany on New Year’s Eve, when 2,000 women were assaulted.

It’s worse than what’s happening in France, where there are stabbings of Jews in the streets and the intelligence chief warned recently that Europe is QUOTE “on the brink of civil war.”

It’s worse than what’s happening in Israel, where average citizens fear for their lives whenever they leave their homes.

The danger is even worse than September 11th, when 19 hijackers murdered almost 3,000 Americans.

No. The worst case scenario is losing an American city to terrorists armed with weapons of mass destruction.

Instead of losing 3,000 people in one morning, we could lose more than 300,000.

Instead of losing 2 great buildings, we could lose block after block after block to a nuclear event. 

That’s not just my view. Back in January of 2001, the Hart Rudman Commission warned that terrorists QUOTE, “will acquire weapons of mass destruction…and some will use them.

Americans will likely die on American soil, possibly in large numbers.” 15 years later, the dangers are even greater.

In a world where Pakistan has nuclear weapons… where North Korea has nuclear weapons…and where IRAN–the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism–is close to having nuclear weapons…this, a catastrophic attack on innocent Americans, is a very real threat.

Which brings us to the heart of the matter.

We are sleepwalking through history as though this is all about politics. It is not.

It is about our safety and our survival as a country.

And this is why every American should be terrified at the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency.

If Hillary is elected, she will keep in place the people and the systems that lie to us every single day about this threat.

We know she will do this because as Secretary of State, she has been right at the center of this dishonesty.

We know this administration and its allies lied to us about the Iran nuclear deal.

We know it because they openly bragged about it to the New York Times.

We know that Hillary Clinton lied to us knowingly about the terror attack on our Benghazi consulate on September 11, 2012.

We know that Hillary Clinton and President Obama lie to the American people when they say they can safely screen the Syrian refugees.  They cannot.  And yet Hillary wants to increase the number by 500 percent.

So when you hear about Hillary’s dishonesty, or the emails, or taking millions from the Saudis and other Middle Eastern dictatorships–remember: this is NOT about politics.

The cost of Hillary’s dishonesty could be the loss of America as we know it. The first step forward to safety is electing a leader who will be truthful with the American people about the realities we face.

Only then will we understand, support, and demand the strategies required to confront this threat.

And because safety and security are the preconditions for our freedom and prosperity, it is also the first step toward rebuilding the America we  love.

Donald Trump understands this.

And that’s why he WILL rebuild our military–because he knows that a strong military is the best way to ensure peace.

Donald Trump WILL secure our borders–because there is no such thing as a nation without a border.

Donald Trump WILL enforce our immigration laws. He will end the policy of deliberate non-enforcement and will end the abuse of our visa programs–to protect American workers, and their wages.

Donald Trump WILL take care of our veterans by holding bureaucrats at  the Veterans Administration accountable.

He WILL fire those responsible for the waiting lists, and WILL give veterans more choices about their care.

With Donald Trump’s leadership, no bureaucrat will get between a veterans and their doctor.

Donald Trump WILL get America building again.

He will blow apart the ridiculous regulations and requirements that drive up infrastructure costs and drag out the timeline to get anything built.

The Trump Infrastructure program WILL make us once again the most competitive economy in the world.

Donald Trump WILL rebuild our education system, and give EVERY PARENT of EVERY income and EVERY ethnic background a choice about where their children go to school.     

And Donald Trump will help us rebuild our communities one life and one family at a time. Here again, the first step is safety– the basis for strong families, and good jobs, and vibrant neighborhoods.              

That means restoring law and order.

Donald Trump will show ZERO tolerance for people calling for the death of police officers.

Think about this. If anyone publicly threatens the life of the President of the United States, the Secret Service is on them in an instant.

Our law enforcement officers deserve the same respect. 

And OF COURSE, if individual officers are found to have violated someone’s rights, they must be held accountable under the law.

America is BASED on the rule of law.

We are one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for ALL.

That is what has allowed us to absorb more people from more backgrounds than any nation in history.

Nobody is above the law.

And nobody is too small to deserve its protection. 

Donald Trump won our party’s nomination because he is willing to tell the truth about the things that matter most.

He has a GREAT running mate in Mike Pence. 

They will put our safety first, and they will defend America first. We can be proud to stand with them.

So tonight, the challenge for everyone in this hall, and everyone–Republican, Democrat, or Independent–who is watching at home and knows we cannot continue on our current course…is to rise above our factions, and rise above the politics we’ve inherited; to ignore the lies of the news media and the old order; to reject the suicidal DISHONESTY of Hillary Clinton and her establishment allies;  and to be proud to stand with Donald Trump and Mike Pence for  what we know is true:

We CAN make America safe again; We CAN make America work again; We CAN make America first again;

And together, we CAN make America great again — for ALL Americans. Thank you and God Bless the United States of America.”

A candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, Newt Gingrich is best known as the architect of the Contract with America, the document that led the Republican Party to victory in 1994 by capturing the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years. Callista Gingrich is the president of Gingrich Productions, a multimedia production company based in Washington, D.C. She and her husband host and produce historical and public policy documentaries.

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