What Nice and Turkey mean for the GOP convention

Events over the past three days have largely dictated the context of the Republican National Convention for when it convenes in less than 24 hours.

On Saturday, Donald Trump formally introduced his running mate, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana. Pence is a solid conservative who will help to unify the party as it enters the initial stages of the general election. He will help to organize the campaign and prepare it for the nine-week grind that begins Labor Day weekend.

{mosads}I am proud to have served with him in Congress. Early in his congressional career, he joined a small cohort of House Republicans who fought against President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind education plan, which exerted federal control over K-12 schooling.

Pence coined the term “Hoekstra’s Heroes” to identify and brand the coterie of Republicans willing to stand up to the popular president soon after his election. Bush deserted conservative principles to pass the education bill, which Pence knew as well as anyone is an issue best left to states, school districts, teachers and parents. He displayed his courage on day one, and he has stuck with his principles throughout his political career.

Additionally, Trump built a solid team to develop and implement his agenda by maintaining close relationships with his former short list of potential vice presidential nominees, who include former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.), New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the former chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

The jihadist massacre in Nice, France and the attempted military coup in Turkey exposed once again the bankrupt foreign policy of President Obama — who cannot bring himself to utter the words “radical Islam” — and presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

The Middle East is in free fall, and jihadists remain a very potent and dangerous force, as the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) identified in a recent analysis on the global growth of Islamist terror. Obama and Clinton’s disastrous policies failed the U.S. and much of the rest of the world by every measure. They are 100 percent responsible for the situation.

As I illustrate in an upcoming book currently in production with the IPT, Obama and Clinton’s warm embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood precipitated much of the chaos that we witness today. It resulted in the failed states of Libya, Yemen, Syria and nearly Egypt.

The Muslim Brotherhood is the genesis of nearly every contemporary extremist organization, as well as their affiliates and front groups in the U.S. such as the Council on American-Islamic Americans and the Muslim American Society. Obama and Clinton upset decades of bipartisan foreign policy overseen by Republican and Democratic administrations by forging alliances with them that were once unthinkable.

Prior administrations largely recognized that the Muslim Brotherhood is a deadly jihadist group that desires to establish a caliphate, ruled by a caliph and governed by Sharia law. It intends to destroy Israel, the West and everything for which they stand.

Fortunately, Trump recognizes the catastrophe that Obama and Clinton caused, and he is committed to fixing it.

He will continue the process of bringing the party back together over the next week, and that’s where we sit as we begin the 2016 convention. It will be interesting to see whether anything outside of its control might unfold during the gathering that could alter the narrative.

The Trump campaign enters the convention with a sound conservative running mate, an accomplished team of advisers and foreign developments that defined the critical policy differences between him and his opponent.

For all of the positive attributes and momentum rolling into Cleveland, Trump will need to remain nimble. If the past 72 hours have taught us anything, it is that events could occur that may alter the storyline, and he will need to be ready to respond.

Hoekstra represented Michigan’s 2nd Congressional District from 1993 to 2011 and is the former chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee.