President Donald Trump always shines when the klieg lights are the brightest. On Thursday, Trump went to Poland and delivered a landmark speech in front of the Warsaw Uprising Monument in which he forcefully defended Western civilization and the values that bind its nation-states.

Before meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump also outlined the common threats the West must confront—like open borders and radical Islamic terrorism—and said the West must have the “will to survive” to ensure that those who “fought and bled and died for freedom” did not do so in vain. Vice President Mike Pence said that Trump “reaffirmed our nation’s commitment to be the leader of the free world.” Many saw the emergence of a “Trump Doctrine.”

Even some of Trump’s harshest critics had no choice (one could even say they were “forced” to) but to praise his speech, though, some, as always, still remained clueless:

.@krauthammer has completely mis-read Trump's Warsaw speech. It's not a refutation of "America first," but an extrapolation on global scale. — Joel B. Pollak (@joelpollak) July 6, 2017

Here are the top 9 highlights.

1. Trump Says ‘In The Polish People, We See The Soul Of Europe’

Trump spoke passionately about Poland’s “spirit” and the importance of its national identity, pointing out that even when Poland’s borders were “erased from the map, it could never be erased from history or from your heart”:

This is my first visit to Central Europe as President, and I am thrilled that it could be right here at this magnificent, beautiful piece of land. It is beautiful. Poland is the geographic heart of Europe, but more importantly, in the Polish people, we see the soul of Europe. Your nation is great because your spirit is great and your spirit is strong. For two centuries, Poland suffered constant and brutal attacks. But while Poland could be invaded and occupied, and its borders even erased from the map, it could never be erased from history or from your hearts. In those dark days, you have lost your land but you never lost your pride. So it is with true admiration that I can say today, that from the farms and villages of your countryside to the cathedrals and squares of your great cities, Poland lives, Poland prospers, and Poland prevails. … Poland is a land of great heroes. And you are a people who know the true value of what you defend. The triumph of the Polish spirit over centuries of hardship gives us all hope for a future in which good conquers evil, and peace achieves victory over war.

“But while Poland could be invaded and occupied … it could never be erased from history or from your hearts,” Pres. Trump says pic.twitter.com/yMZtsHjVae — CBS News (@CBSNews) July 6, 2017

2. Trump Highlights ‘Special Bond’ Between Poland & United States

Trump said Poland and the United States have a “fellowship that exists only among people who have fought and bled and died for freedom”:

For Americans, Poland has been a symbol of hope since the beginning of our nation. Polish heroes and American patriots fought side by side in our War of Independence and in many wars that followed. … Our two countries share a special bond forged by unique histories and national characters. It’s a fellowship that exists only among people who have fought and bled and died for freedom. The signs of this friendship stand in our nation’s capital. Just steps from the White House, we’ve raised statues of men with names like Pułaski and Kościuszko. The same is true in Warsaw, where street signs carry the name of George Washington, and a monument stands to one of the world’s greatest heroes, Ronald Reagan. And so I am here today not just to visit an old ally, but to hold it up as an example for others who seek freedom and who wish to summon the courage and the will to defend our civilization. The story of Poland is the story of a people who have never lost hope, who have never been broken, and who have never, ever forgotten who they are.

A strong Poland is a blessing to the nations of Europe, and a strong Europe is a blessing to the West, and to the world. pic.twitter.com/vHzPwMtJSm — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 6, 2017

3. Trump Asks Whether ‘West Has The Will To Survive’

Trump warned that western civilization cannot be defended with just money and weapons. He emphasized that it requires a “commitment of will” to preserve the values that bind western nation-states:

[As] the Polish experience reminds us, the defense of the West ultimately rests not only on means but also on the will of its people to prevail and be successful and get what you have to have. The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive. Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost? Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders? Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilization in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it? We can have the largest economies and the most lethal weapons anywhere on Earth, but if we do not have strong families and strong values, then we will be weak and we will not survive. If anyone forgets the critical importance of these things, let them come to one country that never has. Let them come to Poland.

WATCH | @realDonaldTrump: “The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive.” https://t.co/l2YkgLwDPA — LEAVE.EU (@LeaveEUOfficial) July 6, 2017

4. Trump Forcefully Defends Western Civilization

Ronald Reagan said that freedom is “fragile” and is “never more than one generation away from extinction,” and Trump echoed similar themes while defending the West’s “values” and “bonds of culture, faith, and tradition that make us who we are”:

Americans, Poles, and the nations of Europe value individual freedom and sovereignty. We must work together to confront forces, whether they come from inside or out, from the South or the East, that threaten over time to undermine these values and to erase the bonds of culture, faith and tradition that make us who we are. If left unchecked, these forces will undermine our courage, sap our spirit, and weaken our will to defend ourselves and our societies. But just as our adversaries and enemies of the past learned here in Poland, we know that these forces, too, are doomed to fail if we want them to fail. And we do, indeed, want them to fail. They are doomed not only because our alliance is strong, our countries are resilient, and our power is unmatched. Through all of that, you have to say everything is true. Our adversaries, however, are doomed because we will never forget who we are. And if we don’t forget who are, we just can’t be beaten. Americans will never forget. The nations of Europe will never forget. We are the fastest and the greatest community. There is nothing like our community of nations. The world has never known anything like our community of nations. We write symphonies. We pursue innovation. We celebrate our ancient heroes, embrace our timeless traditions and customs, and always seek to explore and discover brand-new frontiers. We reward brilliance. We strive for excellence, and cherish inspiring works of art that honor God. We treasure the rule of law and protect the right to free speech and free expression. We empower women as pillars of our society and of our success. We put faith and family, not government and bureaucracy, at the center of our lives. And we debate everything. We challenge everything. We seek to know everything so that we can better know ourselves. And above all, we value the dignity of every human life, protect the rights of every person, and share the hope of every soul to live in freedom. That is who we are. Those are the priceless ties that bind us together as nations, as allies, and as a civilization. What we have, what we inherited from our — and you know this better than anybody, and you see it today with this incredible group of people — what we’ve inherited from our ancestors has never existed to this extent before. And if we fail to preserve it, it will never, ever exist again. So we cannot fail. This great community of nations has something else in common: In every one of them, it is the people, not the powerful, who have always formed the foundation of freedom and the cornerstone of our defense. The people have been that foundation here in Poland — as they were right here in Warsaw — and they were the foundation from the very, very beginning in America. Our citizens did not win freedom together, did not survive horrors together, did not face down evil together, only to lose our freedom to a lack of pride and confidence in our values. We did not and we will not. We will never back down.

Chants of “USA! USA!” break out as Donald Trump takes the stage in Warsaw to deliver speech https://t.co/pBIeCmVEJn pic.twitter.com/cqctH2wigw — BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) July 6, 2017

5. Trump Challenges Russia

Trump critics who can never find anything Trump does to be praiseworthy nitpicked and said Trump should have challenged Russia even more But the fact remains that after praising Poland for “acquiring from the United States the battle-tested Patriot air and missile defense system,” which Trump said was “the best anywhere in the world,” Trump urged Russia to join the “community of responsible nations” and “cease its destabilizing” activities in places like Ukraine:

Today, the West is also confronted by the powers that seek to test our will, undermine our confidence, and challenge our interests. To meet new forms of aggression, including propaganda, financial crimes, and cyberwarfare, we must adapt our alliance to compete effectively in new ways and on all new battlefields. We urge Russia to cease its destabilizing activities in Ukraine and elsewhere, and its support for hostile regimes — including Syria and Iran — and to instead join the community of responsible nations in our fight against common enemies and in defense of civilization itself.

“We urge Russia to cease its destabilizing activities in Ukraine,” Pres. Trump says during his speech in Poland https://t.co/GvGoMfj1uO pic.twitter.com/2eDLBCBDAm — CBS News (@CBSNews) July 6, 2017

6. Trump Defends NATO, Says America Stands Behind Article 5

While he has been falsely criticized by “fake news” networks for not standing behind Article 5, Trump pointed out that by insisting that “members of NATO finally meet their full and fair financial obligation,” billions of dollars have poured in, which is actually strengthening NATO:

To those who would criticize our tough stance, I would point out that the United States has demonstrated not merely with words but with its actions that we stand firmly behind Article 5, the mutual defense commitment. Words are easy, but actions are what matters. And for its own protection — and you know this, everybody knows this, everybody has to know this — Europe must do more. Europe must demonstrate that it believes in its future by investing its money to secure that future.

… That is also why we salute the Polish people for being one of the NATO countries that has actually achieved the benchmark for investment in our common defense. … Americans, Poles, and the nations of Europe value individual freedom and sovereignty. We must work together to confront forces, whether they come from inside or out, from the South or the East, that threaten over time to undermine these values and to erase the bonds of culture, faith and tradition that make us who we are. If left unchecked, these forces will undermine our courage, sap our spirit, and weaken our will to defend ourselves and our societies.

Trump reaffirms the US commitment to NATO Article 5 while also calling for European allies to spend more on defense. pic.twitter.com/w9dH2lVaZi — BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) July 6, 2017

7. Radical Islam, Open Borders Threaten Western Civilization

Trump has repeatedly said the United States has the right to pick immigrants who “love us” and “want to love our country.” Similarly, Trump spoke about the threat radical Islam poses and emphasized the importance of welcoming new citizens “who share our values and love our people” while closing borders to “terrorism and extremism of any kind”:

We are fighting hard against radical Islamic terrorism, and we will prevail. We cannot accept those who reject our values and who use hatred to justify violence against the innocent. … This continent no longer confronts the specter of communism. But today we’re in the West, and we have to say there are dire threats to our security and to our way of life. You see what’s happening out there. They are threats. We will confront them. We will win. But they are threats. We are confronted by another oppressive ideology — one that seeks to export terrorism and extremism all around the globe. America and Europe have suffered one terror attack after another. We’re going to get it to stop. During a historic gathering in Saudi Arabia, I called on the leaders of more than 50 Muslim nations to join together to drive out this menace which threatens all of humanity. We must stand united against these shared enemies to strip them of their territory and their funding, and their networks, and any form of ideological support that they may have. While we will always welcome new citizens who share our values and love our people, our borders will always be closed to terrorism and extremism of any kind. We are fighting hard against radical Islamic terrorism, and we will prevail. We cannot accept those who reject our values and who use hatred to justify violence against innocent.

“While we will always welcome new citizens who share our values … our borders will always be closed to terrorism,” Pres. Trump says pic.twitter.com/0tyt7T2PYU — CBS News (@CBSNews) July 6, 2017

8. ‘We Want God’:

GLORY! .@POTUS “The people of Poland, the people of America, and the people of Europe still cry out: ‘We want God.'” pic.twitter.com/RvrBd0tlBP — Patriot 24/7 (@TrumpTrain45Pac) July 6, 2017

Through four decades of communist rule, Poland and the other captive nations of Europe endured a brutal campaign to demolish freedom, your faith, your laws, your history, your identity — indeed the very essence of your culture and your humanity. Yet, through it all, you never lost that spirit. Your oppressors tried to break you, but Poland could not be broken. And when the day came on June 2nd, 1979, and one million Poles gathered around Victory Square for their very first mass with their Polish Pope, that day, every communist in Warsaw must have known that their oppressive system would soon come crashing down. They must have known it at the exact moment during Pope John Paul II’s sermon when a million Polish men, women, and children suddenly raised their voices in a single prayer. A million Polish people did not ask for wealth. They did not ask for privilege. Instead, one million Poles sang three simple words: “We Want God.” In those words, the Polish people recalled the promise of a better future. They found new courage to face down their oppressors, and they found the words to declare that Poland would be Poland once again. As I stand here today before this incredible crowd, this faithful nation, we can still hear those voices that echo through history. Their message is as true today as ever. The people of Poland, the people of America, and the people of Europe still cry out “We want God.” Together, with Pope John Paul II, the Poles reasserted their identity as a nation devoted to God. And with that powerful declaration of who you are, you came to understand what to do and how to live. You stood in solidarity against oppression, against a lawless secret police, against a cruel and wicked system that impoverished your cities and your souls. And you won. Poland prevailed. Poland will always prevail.

9. ‘The West Will Never, Ever Be Broken’:

The memories of those who perished in the Warsaw Uprising cry out across the decades, and few are clearer than the memories of those who died to build and defend the Jerusalem Avenue crossing. Those heroes remind us that the West was saved with the blood of patriots; that each generation must rise up and play their part in its defense… and that every foot of ground, and every last inch of civilization, is worth defending with your life. Our own fight for the West does not begin on the battlefield — it begins with our minds, our wills, and our souls. Today, the ties that unite our civilization are no less vital, and demand no less defense, than that bare shred of land on which the hope of Poland once totally rested. Our freedom, our civilization, and our survival depend on these bonds of history, culture, and memory. And today as ever, Poland is in our heart, and its people are in that fight. Just as Poland could not be broken, I declare today for the world to hear that the West will never, ever be broken. Our values will prevail. Our people will thrive. And our civilization will triumph.

… So, together, let us all fight like the Poles — for family, for freedom, for country, and for God.

THE WEST WILL NEVER BE BROKEN. Our values will PREVAIL. Our people will THRIVE and our civilization will TRIUMPH! pic.twitter.com/sozuVgdp5T — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 6, 2017

Trump’s Critics Begrudgingly Praise Speech

Trump’s forceful defense of western values silenced some of his harshest critics. The Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol, who has been repeatedly calling for Trump’s resignation, had to begrudgingly give credit where credit was due. Trump hater Nicolle Wallace conceded on MSNBC that Trump used forceful language against the Russians and those who may threaten the West. CNN had to concede that Trump’s speech was “eloquent,” “well-delivered,” “and one of the best speeches of his presidency.” Other reporters in the legacy media seemed to have trouble coming up with attack lines that would not make them look any more ridiculous than they have been while covering Trump.

Trump's speech in Warsaw was an appropriate, even eloquent, speech worthy of a president speaking for America.#CreditWhereCreditIsDue — Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) July 6, 2017

It is worth reading Trump's speech in Poland today. It's one of his better ones.https://t.co/CGsJuMf9tQ — Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) July 6, 2017

Hilarious Chris Cuomo is grasping to criticize Trump after a phenomenal speech. pic.twitter.com/G3yH5Bd7Bi — Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) July 6, 2017

By the looks of it, @realDonaldTrump gave a great speech in Poland. pic.twitter.com/3Lv1k2wkgL — Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) July 6, 2017

Watch the full speech here: