Donald Trump's Plan For ISIS: How The Next President Might Defeat The Islamic State Group

If Donald Trump enters the Oval Office in January, he'll have at least one immediate foreign policy issue on his proverbial plate: the Islamic State group. ISIS, as the extremist organization is known, poses not only a threat to the United States' allies but to also Americans themselves, given the terrorists' penchant for recruiting new members online and inspiring lone wolf attacks like the ones in Orlando, Florida, in June and San Bernardino, California, last December.

"We cannot let this evil continue. Nor can we let the hateful ideology of radical Islam — its oppression of women, gays, children and nonbelievers — be allowed to reside or spread within our own countries," Trump said in an August speech. "We will defeat radical Islamic terrorism, just as we have defeated every threat we have faced in every age before."

But how?

Trump has long blamed his opponent, Democrat and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and current President Barack Obama for allowing ISIS to establish itself as a global menace. His plan for ISIS is laid out on his campaign website.

First, Trump will work the U.S.' connections in the Middle East, calling on Israel, Jordan and Egypt to battle ISIS. Trump said he thinks Americans could also team up with Russia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Together, the coalition will coordinate aggressive military missions to curb ISIS' influence, limit their funding, share intelligence and take down their propaganda troops.

Trump also wants to keep these plans secret so ISIS will be surprised.

Next, he plans to engage in what he called ideological warfare. "Just as we won the Cold War, in part, by exposing the evils of communism and the virtues of free markets, so too must we take on the ideology of radical Islam," he said in his speech, outlining his proposals to condemn practices like honor killings and other kinds of oppression. Trump will put together a commission that teaches people to recognize radical Muslims and disable groups that make it possible.

Finally, he will temporarily pause immigration from certain countries.

"We should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people," he said. "I will ask the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to identify a list of regions where adequate screening cannot take place. We will stop processing visas from those areas until such time as it is deemed safe to resume based on new circumstances or new procedures."

Read more about the possible new president-elect's thoughts on how to take down ISIS here.