by George Rasley, ConservativeHQ.com Editor

When President Trump responded to the latest Muslim terror attack in New York by tweeting “In NYC, looks like another attack by a very sick and deranged person. Law enforcement is following this closely. NOT IN THE U.S.A.!”

And later continued: “We must not allow ISIS to return, or enter, our country after defeating them in the Middle East and elsewhere. Enough!”

Our reaction was, oh great, here we go again with the Obama-era idea that Muslim terrorists, like Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov (whose name means Sword of Allah), are crazy.

As we have explained many times Islamist terrorists are not “deranged” or “sick” or crazy, they are motivated by a very clear ideology called Islam, which is set forth in a very well-understood manifesto called the Koran, or Quran.

This ideology is embraced by millions of Muslims around the world and has many military wings: The Muslim Brotherhood (next to the Communist Party perhaps the oldest continuously operating terrorist organization in the world), Al Qaida, the Islamic State or ISIS, Hamas, The Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI, just to name a few of the more obvious and lethal organizations operating in America.

There are also front groups and organizations involved in the intelligence preparation of the battlefield, including the Muslim Brotherhood, unindicted terrorism financing co-conspirator CAIR (the Committee on American – Islamic Relations), ISNA (Islamic Society of North America), North American Islamic Trust, Muslim Public Affairs Council and other more ephemeral organizations, such as southdakotavoicesforpeace.org, that are formed to create smokescreens when anyone tries to tell the truth about Islam and the threat it poses to the future of western civilization and constitutional liberty.

Throughout the Obama years conservatives who sought to educate the public about the threat of Islam were shouted down, branded as Islamophobes and “haters” and marginalized by their own government, which actively sought to not just minimize the threat Islam poses to constitutional liberty, but pursued policies that made America more vulnerable to it.

So, when it appeared that President Trump was embracing the “terrorists are crazy” narrative many conservatives wondered if the 2016 election actually meant things would improve in the fight against the domestic Islamist threat.

However, our disappointment may have been premature.

Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the administration considers Muslim terrorist Sayfullo Saipov to be an “enemy combatant.”

“I believe we would consider this person to be an enemy combatant,” Sarah Sanders said in response to questioning at Wednesday’s White House press briefing.

As an “enemy combatant,” Saipov, the “suspect” in the attack, could face an altered interrogation and prosecution process.

President Trump also condemned the United States criminal justice system and labeled Saipov an “animal.”

“We have to come up with punishment that’s far quicker and far greater than the punishment these animals are getting right now,” Trump said according to ABC News. He added: “What we have right now is a joke” before responding affirmatively when asked if he wanted the alleged assailant to be sent to the Cuban military prison that houses terrorists and enemy combatants.

“I would certainly consider it. Send him to Gitmo,” he said, using a nickname for Guantanamo Bay. “I would certainly consider it.”

The president further signaled his intention to “terminate the diversity lottery program,” the visa lottery under which Saipov was admitted from Uzbekistan seven years ago. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed Saipov utilized the program Wednesday. Trump said he would be asking Congress to “get rid of” the policy in favor of a “merit-based program.”

The inital comments from the President showed just how sorely General Mike Flynn is missed as National Security Advisor, but we think President Trump is on the right track when he says the idea of treating Muslim terrorists like Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov as common criminals is a joke.

We are in a war Islam has declared on America and the West; the war is here at home, not in the Middle East, and we are more optimistic about the prospects for victory now that it sounds like President Trump better understands the fight.