When Donald Trump outlined his plan to combat terrorism during a speech on Monday, he delivered a decisive slap in the face to the Democratic Party for choosing to defend Islam — whether radicalized or not — over the safety of the LGBT community.

During his speech in Youngstown, Ohio, the Republican presidential nominee reminded the country of the Democratic leadership’s failure to adequately address — or even name — the threat of radical Islamic terrorism in the aftermath of the June 12 Orlando massacre. Shooter Omar Mateen took the lives of 49 victims and wounded 53 others in an attack that Trump immediately called out as “radical Islamic terrorism.” And his speech on Monday strongly condemned Mateen’s actions, motives, and explicit hatred against LGBT Americans.

“If you’re unable to name the actual threat, you are unable to adequately address it,” Angelo said.

“It was the worst mass shooting in our history, and the worst attack on the LGTBQ community in our history,” Trump said. “We cannot let this evil continue. Nor can we let the hateful ideology of radical Islam — its oppression of women, gays, children, and non-believers — be allowed to reside or spread within our own countries.”

Gregory T. Angelo, the president of the Log Cabin Republicans, said Trump was the first U.S. presidential candidate — whether Democratic or Republican — to expressly acknowledge the existential threat radical Islamic terror poses to members of the LGBT community.

“And so this, in many respects, is Donald Trump continuing to fulfill a campaign promise that he made in the immediate aftermath of the Orlando massacre in June saying that he would be a friend to the LGBT community and prioritize keeping Americans safe,” Angelo told LifeZette — before criticizing President Obama and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for their failure to address the threat. “If you’re unable to name the actual threat, you are unable to adequately address it.”

The Log Cabin Republicans, a national organization that works to “make the Republican Party more inclusive, particularly on gay and lesbian issues,” according to its website, believes that “opposing gay and lesbian equality is inconsistent with the GOP’s core principles of smaller government and personal freedom.”

[lz_related_box id=”158755″]

Promising that as president he would “speak out against the oppression of women, gays, and people of different faith,” Trump spoke out against the “hateful ideology” of radical Islam with a clarity and forcefulness that Democratic leaders have failed to follow. Trump called out “anyone who cannot condemn the hatred, oppression, and violence of radical Islam,” saying that such a person “lacks the moral clarity to serve as our president.”

“This is something that is clearly long overdue to be addressed and something that we haven’t heard complete plans from the Democrats or Hillary Clinton in regard to that,” Angelo said.

But why is this so? For decades, the Democratic Party has claimed to champion the rights of the underprivileged and the marginalized and the oppressed. Up until now, these categories have included the LGBT community. But now the party has found itself at a crossroad where it had to choose between defending Muslims-Americans from the backlash against Islam and defending LGBT Americans from the “hateful ideology” Trump expressly acknowledged. And the party apparently has made its choice.

Who do you think would win the Presidency?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from LifeZette, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

“This is the logical extension of playing the identity politics game. The Democratic Party in the United States has played this identity politics game for far too long, and it seems that we are approaching game over,” Angelo said. “So yes, the Democrats and Hillary Clinton are in a conundrum right now, but that is their problem to resolve and their difficulty to address.”

“This is the logical extension of playing the identity politics game. The Democratic Party in the United States has played this identity politics game for far too long, and it seems that we are approaching game over.”

Above all, Trump’s speech called for unification among the American people as a whole — from Muslims to LGBT members to Democrats and to Republicans, alike — a call that has been noticeably absent from the Democratic Party.

“Renewing this spirit of Americanism will help heal the divisions in our country. It will do so by emphasizing what we have in common — not what pulls us apart,” Trump concluded. “I will fight to ensure that every American is treated equally, protected equally, and honored equally. We will reject bigotry and oppression in all its forms, and seek a new future built on our common culture and values as one American people.”

Although Angelo acknowledged the diverse opinions that Americans hold regarding the gay marriage debate and other related issues, he echoed Trump’s call for unity and recognized it as the best possible policy for ensuring the protection of all Americans.

“So while we may have differences of philosophy on things like marriage or whether we may be working still to balance religious liberty and LGBT nondiscrimination protections in this country, we should, as we have those discussions, approach them from a ‘live and let live’ philosophy, and I mean that quite literally,” Angelo said.