In what appeared to be a last ditch — and ultimately futile — attempt to snatch the GOP vice presidential nod away from Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich proposed testing and then deporting Muslims in the wake of the tragedy in France and managed to offend people on both sides of the aisle.

Thursday night, Gingrich told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he had a sure fire plan to protect U.S. citizens

“Western civilization is in a war,” Gingrich told Hannity. “We should, frankly, test every person here who is of a Muslim background, and if they believe in Sharia, they should be deported. Sharia is incompatible with Western civilization. Modern Muslims who have given up Sharia? Glad to have them as citizens. Perfectly happy to have them next door. But we need to be fairly relentless about defining who our enemies are.”

Conservatives, many of whom have no problem invading Middle Eastern countries to fight Islam, had a big problem with subjecting American Muslims and visitors to the country to interrogations for what some called “thought crimes.”

You can’t criticize Obama for not governing in accordance with the Constitution and then say you want to deport people for their beliefs.

— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) July 15, 2016

Come on. This is nuts. We should “test” every person in the US who has a “Muslim background”? Really? https://t.co/zvU633gVjp — Thomas Joscelyn (@thomasjoscelyn) July 15, 2016

Odious for lots of reasons, but also: Newt's Sharia test would grow the size of govt exponentially and cost billions. #TrumpConservatism

— S.E. Cupp (@secupp) July 15, 2016

Newt is so distraught at being passed over for VP by Trump that he’s saying kooky stuff even Trump doesn’t say. https://t.co/6drR1v7T5a

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) July 15, 2016

Gingrich doesn’t just want to “test” Muslims, but anyone with a “Muslim background.” Are we setting up an Orwellian agency for this? — Thomas Joscelyn (@thomasjoscelyn) July 15, 2016

Including citizens? What if they lie? And who are the testers? What is this? https://t.co/S4pyKSTEiW

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) July 15, 2016

Non-conservatives naturally mocked Gingrich for what looked like a ploy to regain the favor of presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Newt wants to test people to prove that they’re good Muslims, because a guy married 3 times could easily prove that he’s a good Christian. — Frank Conniff (@FrankConniff) July 15, 2016

Hey Newt I remember the last time someone decided to deport all the people of one religion from their country, there’s a museum about it too

— Jesse LaGreca (@JesseLaGreca) July 15, 2016

@fawfulfan @Clarknt67 He will set up a Sharia testing station on his moon base.

— Josh V (@Bruiser4Eq) July 15, 2016

and Newt was gonna be the smart one on a Trump/Gingrich ticket…… https://t.co/kKPIxuKerZ — Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) July 15, 2016

Oh Newt. It’s not going to work. He already gave the rose to Mike.

— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) July 15, 2016

Is it true that if Newt doesn’t get picked as Trump’s running mate he goes back to being a snowman? — LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) July 14, 2016