Political Wire

  • Front Page
  • Trending
  • Reader Wire
  • Members
    • Subscribe
    • Sign In
  • Contact Us
You are here: Home / 2016 Campaign / Gingrich Says Trump Is Part P.T. Barnum

Gingrich Says Trump Is Part P.T. Barnum

July 4, 2016 at 8:16 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Newt Gingrich called Donald Trump a great populist leader and said he “is one part Andrew Jackson as a disruptor, one part Theodore 
Roosevelt with manic energy, and one part P.T. Barnum as a salesman, which resonates well with the working class, but not the elite,” the Aspen Daily News reports.

Said Gingrich: “That blend of those three explains the sort of ‘Trumpian’ phenomenon. That frankly is fairly offensive if you’re part of an establishment that goes to think tanks and comes to Aspen, and has conversations appropriate for corporate boardrooms. Guys who talk at fourth-grade levels and speak in the language of a good working-class bar, drive you crazy. And if they succeed they really drive you crazy, because they disrupt everything you thought you invested your life in.”

FavoriteLoadingSave to Favorites
  • Bluesky
  • X
  • Threads
  • Facebook
  • Email

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Donald Trump, Newt Gingrich

« Farage Steps Down in Britain
Priebus Hopes for Unity at Convention »

Your Account

Sign in

Members Only

  • Happy Birthday America!
  • Building a Better Political Wire
  • Halftime
  • Was Nina Totenberg’s Alito Story a Broken Embargo?
  • Democrats Have a Real Divide — But Not a Civil War
Trial Balloon

Add Trial Balloon to your podcast player to get new episodes each week.

About Political Wire

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

Praise for Political Wire

“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”

— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”

“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”

— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report

“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”

— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report

“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”

— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia

“Political Wire is a great, great site.”

— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”

“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”

— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post

“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”

— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit

“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”

— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.

Copyright © 2026 · Goddard Media LLC | Privacy Policy | Corrections Policy

Political Wire ® is a registered trademark of Goddard Media LLC