Gingrich covers for Cruz

Gingrich covers for Cruz, paints picture of a dangerous world

Trump, Gingrich said, had shown the 'courage to tell some important truths about our national security.'

By Benjamin Oreskes

Newt Gingrich, in a grim address to the Republican National Convention, took viewers on a world tour of the dangers that “radical Islamic terrorism” poses to the American people. He also touted the one presidential candidate he said would keep Americans safe from those dangers: Donald Trump.

“Keeping America safe is the first responsibility of the president,” said Gingrich. “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.”

But before Gingrich turned to national security, he began his remarks by addressing Sen. Ted Cruz’s controversial speech to the convention moments earlier. That speech concluded with the Texas senator taking boos from thousands of delegates on the convention floor for refusing to explicitly endorse Trump. Instead, Cruz encouraged voters to "vote their conscience" and "vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution.”

Gingrich argued that Cruz had implicitly endorsed Trump due to Trump's credentials and Hillary Clinton's alleged shortcomings. “To paraphrase Ted Cruz: If you want to protect the constitution of United States, the only possible candidate this fall is the Trump-Pence Republican ticket.”

But the bulk of Gingrich's remarks dealt with national security. The former Speaker of the House recounted a string of terrorist attacks throughout Europe and the Middle East in graphic detail. This came with the caveat that not all Muslims are bad, but built to a rousing and terrifying point: ISIS is coming to attack America and the results could be catastrophic. Imagine, he said, a U.S. city flattened by a nuclear weapon.

“We cannot keep in place the people and the systems that have brought us to this point and then lie to us every single day about the threat,” he said. “That is why every American should be terrified at the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency.”

Gingrich has had a surprising third act on the national political scene this cycle after a losing presidential bid in 2012 and resigning from Congress in 1998 in disgrace. He was on the short list for Trump's running mate, and some reports suggest he and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were his top choices before Trump was convinced to pick Indiana Gov. Mike Pence by Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort and the Trump children.

After the GOP nominee chose Mike Pence, Gingrich didn’t go into hiding. The former college professor continued to be a regular presence on the airwaves — as a strident defender of Trump and an off-the-cuff voice on the political story of the day, whatever it maybe. He’s also has used his regular presence on television and at political events to make policy recommendations. Just yesterday, he said that a President Trump would sign as many as 300 executive orders on his first day in office.

After he didn’t get the VP job, he also said: “I want to be the senior planner for the entire federal government, and I want a letter from you that says Newt Gingrich is authorized to go to any program in any department, examine it and report directly to the president.”

Later in the speech, Gingrich turned away from the threat of terror to how Trump would “blow apart the ridiculous regulations and requirements that ... drive infrastructure cost and the time I to get things build,” he said. “The dollar company for such a program make us once again the most competitive economy in the world.”