Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) touted President Trump’s efforts to thaw tensions with the new government in Syria, describing the move as strategically savvy, though risky.
“When the Crown Prince [of Saudi Arabia] and the president of Turkey both asked him [Trump] to give Syria, the new Syrian government, a chance, he intuitively just said, ‘Sure,’” Gingrich told hosts John Catsimatidis & Rita Cosby on the “Cats & Cosby Show” on Wednesday.
Gingrich, the longtime Republican leader, noted that other presidential teams would have taken months to arrive at the same conclusion, bringing in “so-called experts” to advise the commander-in-chief to be careful, while arriving at the same conclusion.
“Trump knows he’s taking a gamble. He knows the guy he’s dealing with as the head of Syria was a terrorist — is still on the terrorist list — and he knows that it’s a gamble. What he’s also saying to Turkey and to Saudi Arabia, you know, ‘I’m going to do my part. Now you guys have got to step in here and clean this act up.’”
Trump met with interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, a day after he announced he would roll back sanctions on Syria at the urging of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The sanctions had been imposed against the former Bashar Assad regime amid a brutal civil war, which came to a head late last year when Syrian rebels drove out the Assad government.
“Oh, what I do for the crown prince,” Trump said with a laugh Monday. “The sanctions were brutal and crippling and served as an important function … but now it’s [Syria’s] time to shine.”
Gingrich said Trump’s efforts in Syria are strategically impressive, saying they serve to further isolate Iran and Russia, which had backed Syria’s government in the war.
“[Trump] also understands that a Syria which is now relating to America, further isolates Iran, because Syria was the last major ally that Iran had,” Gingrich said. “It also, frankly, undermines Putin, because the Russians have made a major investment in Syria.”
“And so, in this one step, he strengthens his ties to Saudi Arabia and Turkey. He isolates Iran. And he eliminates Russia from that part of the world,” Gingrich continued.
Gingrich attributed the strategy to Trump’s instincts.
“Now that’s a pretty remarkable— and I’m sure it was spur-of-the-moment, I’m sure, because that’s how Trump operates. He has greater faith in his own instincts than in the so-called professionals who have not done a very good job in the Middle East.”
