MILWAUKEE — Newt Gingrich, the former U.S. House speaker who represented Georgia’s 6th Congressional District for two decades, said former President Donald Trump is the best candidate to lead America in an “incredibly dangerous” time.
Speaking Wednesday evening on the third night of the Republican National Convention, the 81-year-old criticized what he said was President Joe Biden’s international policy of “appeasement,” while calling Trump “a president of strength.”
“We have to remember that the greatest threat to American safety is not Biden’s brain,” Gingrich told Republican delegates from across the nation. “The greatest threat is Biden’s policies and the people he appoints to implement them.”
Largely considered the architect of the “Republican Revolution,” Gingrich helped the GOP gain 54 House seats and eight Senate seats in the 1994 midterm elections, giving his party control of both chambers.
He launched an unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2012, although he won the Georgia primary that year. Four years later, he was among the last contenders standing when Trump sought a running mate ahead of his first term. Trump ultimately selected Mike Pence to round out the ticket.
Gingrich’s speech Wednesday centered largely on international affairs. He warned of “a growing coalition of dictatorships” actively seeking to undermine U.S. power.
He mentioned both Iran and Russia, saying the latter’s invasion of Ukraine represented “the deadliest European war since World War II.”
China, Gingrich said, continues to develop its military power while seeking to undermine America “through espionage, fentanyl and the infiltration of our companies and our universities.”
“Faced with these clear and present dangers, President Biden has adopted failed policy after failed policy,” he said.
Gingrich also blamed Biden’s “weakness and confusion” for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel that left an estimated 1,200 people dead and an additional 240 taken as hostages.
More than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in the nine months since, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Gingrich’s’ wife, Callista, who served as U.S. ambassador to the Vatican during Trump’s first term, also spoke Wednesday night, saying the U.S. looks forward to a “brighter, safer, more prosperous future” with Trump back in office.
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