President Obama Should Speak The Truth About The Face of Evil

I spoke with Fox News' Megyn Kelly last night regarding the threat of radical Islamic terrorism.

A transcript of my remarks is below.

Megyn Kelly: Senator Cruz, thank you for being here and as we see that act take place, 21 Christians beheaded and as we see 45 people burned to death by ISIS in Iraq the White House refuses to identify the religion of the first group of victims and holds a summit on violent extremism without identifying that it is radical Islamists that we are fighting and that is committing these horrific acts, your thoughts?

Sen. Cruz: Well Megyn, you are exactly right, ISIS is the face of evil and these latest atrocities, our heart breaks and to see 21 Coptic Christians murdered, beheaded by radical Islamic terrorists to see 45 people lit on fire, this is horrific and it is deliberate and it is targeted. It is targeted at Christians, it is targeted at Jews, its targeted Muslims in the region who do not accede to the radical Islamist view and unfortunately the President and this administration dogmatically refuses to utter the words radical Islamic terrorism. You cannot defeat an enemy if you refuse to acknowledge what it is.

Megyn Kelly: Why can't you, why not?

Sen. Cruz: Because you cannot focus on who you are targeting and what you are trying to do. This week we saw the spokesperson for the State Department saying we cannot defeat ISIS by killing them instead we need to give them all jobs. Now with respect, that is idiocy. The solution here is not expanded Medicaid in Iraq the solution is the full force of the US military power to destroy the leaders of ISIS. They had declared war, jihad, on the United States, jihad is another word the President doesn't say. Instead you know a couple weeks ago I was at the National Prayer Breakfast where the President spoke and bizarrely he compared these atrocities to the Crusades in this strange act of moral relativism, now last I checked the Crusades began a millennia ago and I don't think it's too much to ask the President to stay in the current millennium, they ended over seven hundred years ago and it's a false moral relativism.

Megyn Kelly: What did you make of the fact Senator, that he refused to call the 21 victims who had their throats slit by ISIS, Christians he called them Egyptians citizens, didn't mention their faith.

Sen. Cruz: Absolutely this is a President and administration that has turned a hard heart to the persecution and suffering of Christians abroad, to the persecution and suffering of Jews abroad, you know you look at the at the Christians where's the President speaking up loudly and consistently for Pastor Saeed Abedini, an American imprisoned in Iran in prison for professing his Christian faith. When Meriam Ibrahim was in Sudan sentenced to 100 lashes and to hang by the neck until dead for her Christian faith, the President would not speak up. And you know just a couple weeks ago the President made reference to the horrific terrorist attack in Paris where radical Islamists went into a kosher deli and the President said it was a "random act of violence", nothing random about it these were radical Islamists going to a kosher deli to target people because they were Jews and to murder them because they're Jewish faith and this bizarre politically correct doublespeak, it is simply not befitting a commander in chief whose first obligation should be to protect the United States of America.

Megyn Kelly: You know what his argument is on this, which is there's no reason to admit that we're in a holy war because that gives the terrorists what they want and he's worried about alienating those Muslim countries that right now are willing to stand up and fight ISIS, does it undermine our global effort of the coalition he's trying build to pit the world against Islam, even the radical form of Islam?

Sen. Cruz: What undermines the global effort is for the Present of the United States to be an apologist for radical Islamic terrorists, to analogize it to the Crusades from seven hundred years ago. What would be far better to see is the kind of courage that was demonstrated just a few weeks ago by Egyptian President Al-Sisi. Now President Al-Sisi in Cairo gave a speech that was courageous when he called out the radical Islamic terrorists and President Al-Sisi is a Muslim, and he said we Muslims need to stand up together against these radical terrorists who are perverting our faith and turning it into a mandate for murder, why don't we see the President of the United States demonstrating that same courage just to speak the truth about the face of evil we're facing right now.

Megyn Kelly: Senator Ted Cruz, always great to see you sir.

Sen. Cruz: Thank you Megyn.