by Newt Gingrich

The leftwing media and his other political adversaries constantly attack President Donald J. Trump for his rough and tumble style. But his actions and efforts during the recent bombing of three key Iranian nuclear facilities prove that he is a visionary – and a disciplined and courageous team builder.

President Trump briefed the country Saturday night with the Vice President, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of Defense. He was clearly communicating to the world that this was a team effort – and not solely the work of the American Commander in Chief.

Sunday morning’s briefing by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine further drove home that this was a team project. It was exactly right for those two to give the military briefing rather than President Trump. They were able to reinforce the scale, complexity, and extraordinary success of the mission.

As a student of military activities for more than 60 years, I was stunned at the mission’s operational security. Think about how many airplanes and ships were in motion. Consider how many support people – including mechanics and service support personnel – were coordinating. There were so many different parts of the system cooperating – and none of it leaked. In today’s world, this is truly remarkable.

The planning and implementation of this brief, targeted, decisive bombing campaign revealed four big components to the Trump system.

First, President Trump has a vision of a peaceful, prosperous Middle East. He wants to end the eight-decade cycle of wars against Israel. As he put it in a recent post on Truth Social, President Trump favors a future to “Make Iran Great Again.” President Trump believes the Iranian people have the potential to be prosperous, safe, and free. When you combine that positive vision of Iran’s future with the Abraham Accords, which are designed to bring together Israel and its neighbors, you can begin to see a remarkable vision. President Trump isn’t aiming to simply manage and minimize the current conflict. He wants to replace it with an era of peace, safety, and prosperity.

Part of President Trump’s vision is to get away from the violence that has characterized the Middle East since World War II. He has the most powerful military in the world, but the President wants to use it as little as possible. He is much like former President Ronald Reagan, who built up the American military to defeat the Soviet Union – but used it cautiously and in limited operations.

This desire for peace led President Trump to emphasize that we were not attacking the Iranian people – and that we want them to live in safety, peace, and prosperity.

Second, the level of discipline President Trump displayed during the 60-day lead up to the attack – and its artful misdirection and secrecy – contradict everything his critics say about him. President Trump gave the Iranian dictatorship 60 days to come to the table. He kept warning them that they were never going to get nuclear weapons (a position he has held for 20 years). The President clearly communicated that the Iranian dictatorship could end its nuclear program peacefully – or have it eliminated by the American military.

For a variety of reasons, the Iranian dictatorship was unable to take President Trump’s threat seriously. Iran wasted the 60 days. Skeptics watching the maneuvering on tariffs and other issues began to say that President Trump would not back up his words. After last weekend’s methodical operation, they look like fools.

President Trump’s discipline remained firm throughout the deception campaign. Constantly saying that he was looking for an opportunity to talk with the Iranian dictatorship – and floating a two-week grace period – created a psychological relaxation. This led the Iranians and his critics to wonder if President Trump would flinch in the end. Of course, it was all an elaborate deception plan. It enabled America to have total operational surprise and protected our airmen from potential Iranian defenses.

Third, it takes a lot of courage to ignore your critics and your supporters. You don’t want to be still because of your critics. You also don’t want to be forced into action by the enthusiasm of your supporters. The loneliness of command requires that, in the end, you must pray and take responsibility for doing what you think is best.

President Trump’s ability to focus on his goals and values and ignore the attacks and applause is the highest aspect of true leadership. Clearly, on the Iranian anti-nuclear campaign, President Trump was prepared to do what must be done despite it all.

He was going to do what was right and count on the American people to ultimately support his effort to eliminate the nuclear threat. In the end, 78 percent of Republicans, 78 percent of Democrats, and 78 percent of independents agreed that Iran could not be allowed to have nuclear weapons because of their direct threat to America.

Finally, because President Trump is such an extraordinarily effective communicator – and an intensely pervasive generator of publicity, information, conflict, and activity – there is a tendency to focus on him in isolation.

The truth is businessman Trump was a great organizer, leader, and manager of people. He knew how to run a huge system with lots of hotels, golf courses, products, and other properties. He also managed his time well enough to work with teams at The Apprentice TV show and the Miss Universe Contest while still running his businesses.

This has all been translated into his role as Commander in Chief. The complexity of the successful bombing campaign proves it. A lot of people did their jobs brilliantly – and in total secrecy. The operation spanned half the globe.

President Trump is clearly a visionary, disciplined, and courageous team builder. We now have proof he and his team are dedicated to creating a better, safer, most prosperous future.

For more commentary from Newt Gingrich, visit Gingrich360.com. Also, subscribe to the Newt’s World podcast.

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