CLEVELAND, Ohio — Newt Gingrich told delegates at the Republican National Convention that “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.”
Though he did not provide specific changes needed, he urged voters to elect Trump because he tells the truth about the problem.
“If our enemies had their way, not a single woman in this room could define her future,” Gingrich said Wednesday night.
“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,” he continued.
“There would be no individual liberty. There would be no equality. There would be no freedom.”
He noted that the U.S. has nothing to fear “from the vast majority of Muslims in the United States, or around the world.”
“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.”
He then painted a dire picture of what could happen if there is a nuclear terror attack.
“The danger is even worse than Sept. 11, when 19 hijackers murdered almost 3,000 Americans,” he said. “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.”
Gingrich’s speech came on Night 3 of the GOP convention. He was widely considered one of the top three or four finalists to be Trump’s running mate.