In his characteristically polarizing fashion, Donald Trump advocated an efficient, no-nonsense approach to defeating terrorism, and also managed to offer some praise to Saddam Hussein, of all people, on the way.
Speaking at a campaign rally in North Carolina, Trump said that Saddam was "a bad guy, a really bad guy." However, Trump continued "But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good. They didn't read 'em the rights, they didn't talk, they were terrorists it was over."
No doubt this statement will spark debate over whether Trump favors the suspension of due process of law in cases of suspected terrorist activity, though with Trump, it is often difficult to separate the policy from the rhetoric.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee ended his tirade by decrying the situation in Iraq as it currently stands. "Today, Iraq is Harvard for terrorism," Trump claimed, "you want to be a terrorist, you go through Iraq. It's like Harvard, OK."
Trump's comments elicited condemnations from the Clinton campaign House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican who's been going back and forth on supporting or endorsing Trump over the past few months. Ryan said of Hussein "He was one of the 20th century's most evil people," when confronted with Trump's comments on Fox News Tuesday night.