Gingrich: Going After People Who Have Been Radicalized Requires Rethinking Parts Of The First Amendment
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told FOX News host Laura Ingraham that the country has no clear strategy for addressing radicalization and said a “totally new approach” is needed.
LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST: Here with us is Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, Fox News political analyst. Newt, this was such a horrific weekend, in so many ways, at a season that is supposed to be one of our most joyful seasons, whether you’re Christian or Jew, season of light, season of miracles. Your reaction to first what we are seeing with these thwarted attacks in the United States and these pro-Palestinian or even pro-Hamas groups that are obviously plotting behind closed doors to do harm to the United States? NEWT GINGRICH, FOX NEWS: Look, I think there are three sad realities that we’re going to have to come to grips with. The first you just mentioned, we have active enemies who want to kill us and we had better understand that this is a war and that we’re going to be in this war for a very long time, that it’s not easy to defeat terrorist groups. They have deep roots, they have fanatic belief. Second, what we’re seeing is where the news media is. If you go to Nigeria, for example, or Sudan, or a number of other places, the number of people being killed is horrifying, but that’s not where the reporters are. So the third point I’d make was a real profound change since World War II. No one is safe anywhere. That’s a hard thing to believe, but it’s true. Think about the two National Guardsmen right near the White House. Think about the young couple just outside the Jewish Museum in downtown Washington. Wherever you turn, we now live in a world that’s dangerous and we’re going to have to change accordingly. We’re going to be much tougher, much more aggressive, and more willing to defeat those who would kill us. I think this is a horrendous weekend, but it’s a tip of what has become a horrendous planet. INGRAHAM: Now, we remember what happened on New Year’s Day at the beginning of this year. We forgot what happened in New Orleans when we had that horrific attack, again, inspired by a radicalized ideology. And again, life happens so fast that people forget about it and say, oh, it’s just, you know, move on. But we can’t really move on when this continues to happen and it’s not getting better. It seems to be spreading, Newt. GINGRICH: Well, I think it is spreading because we have no strategy for going after people who have been radicalized. That’s the key in Gaza. That’s the key in Syria. That’s the key in the United States. We have to have a totally new approach, and that requires rethinking parts of the First Amendment and asking yourself, if somebody is preaching death, do they really have a right to do that? And we have no people who are being trained. We also underestimate the power of social media and the degree to which people are being recruited psychologically on the Internet. These are going to be tough conversations, but every week we’re going to be reminded somewhere on the planet if somebody’s killed. And this is not going away. This requires defeating them, not ignoring them. INGRAHAM: Are you proposing a crackdown on civil liberties like free expression and the First Amendment to try to fight this, Newt? I’m not proposing that. I’m proposing if you’re inciting violence, you should be arrested and taken into custody. But it has to be inciting violence. Otherwise, you can see this is going to be turned on conservatives at any moment. GINGRICH: Well, it depends on what you’re talking about. I mean, I don’t think conservatives go around and incite violence. If you have somebody who is preaching, go out and kill people. I think that’s not clear. It’s not clear to me. Oh, that’s incitement. It’s covered. Well, that’s what I’m saying. I think you’ll find in almost every one of these cases, there were people urging them to go kill people. And I think, as you know, there are increasing restrictions on people under 16 having access to an unlimited social network, which has a very high level of violence and a very high level of drug use. And all these things come back together in a way we have to be honest about. INGRAHAM: We have a spiritual problem. We have a cultural problem. And we have a recruitment problem on the Internet. That’s for darn sure. I think it should be 18, not 16. Newt, it’s been too long. Thank you very much for joining us tonight.
