Neither the GOP or Democratic front-runner is qualified to take on an "international guerrilla war" against radical Islamists — with Hillary Clinton "completely confused" and Donald Trump "not a serious candidate," Republican contender Jim Gilmore tells
Newsmax TV.
In an interview with "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Friday, the former governor of Virginia said neither Clinton nor Trump "can provide the leadership" necessary in a battle that's "not traditional war."
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Clinton "really disqualified herself from the race because of her email misconduct," Gilmore said. "But now it sounds to me like she's completely confused. This is a former secretary of state, she's completely confused about who the enemy is and what we have to do."
"The people who are engaged in this international guerrilla conflict are Muslims," he said. "They are radical Muslims. Now there are plenty of Muslims out there that aren't engaged in this, so we're not going to condemn everybody and she was sort of approximately saying that, but when
she says that radical Islamists are not Islamists, that's just crazy."
Gilmore added that Trump's "idea of some sort of
federal deportation force that he's going to put together, some sort of local domestic secret organization that's going to go root people out … it's fascist talk."
"Frankly [reporters] go back to Trump and they say, 'well, are you going to
register people in this country?'" Gilmore added. "He's all over the map. This is not a serious candidate for president. I don't care what he's showing in the polls."
Gilmore warned the "the Paris attack was not the end, it was only the beginning."
"Now we've seen the Mali attack today, which by the way was at one point under French influence a great deal," he added. "We may very well see some problems here."
Gilmore said the solution will be to "strengthen our intelligence and law enforcement people in this country and the sort of paranoid idea that these people are against us is just dangerous."
He also is advocating the use of military force to "diminish the secret sanctuaries and the safe havens that people like ISIS have got," and a denouncement of radical Islamism.
Gilmore also insists he won't drop out of the race for president —
despite his low polling numbers that exclude him from the official GOP debates.
"The main thing is the ideas and the credentials and the direction of this nation and I can provide that," he said.
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