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Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 194

What Just Happened?

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Trial Balloon · Ep. 194: What Just Happened?

Newt Gingrich’s Presidential Campaign Still Owes Millions

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“Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is a self-styled fiscal conservative who calls for a balanced federal budget. He’s also actively helping Republicans win back the US House in 2022. He’s fundraising for former President Donald Trump’s political network,” Insider reports.

“But Gingrich’s 2012 presidential campaign committee, almost a decade past its expiration date, is still swimming in a sea of red.”

“The ‘Newt 2012’ campaign committee remains technically active and more than $4.63 million in debt, according to financial filing submitted October 14 to the Federal Election Commission. No presidential campaign from any election cycle owes creditors more money.”

Gingrich Calls Pelosi’s Strategy ‘Brain Dead’

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Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R) slammed current Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) strategy to delay reporting articles of impeachment against President Trump to the Senate, The Hill reports.

Said Gingrich: “He ought to send her a beautiful ‘thank you’ note saying that no one has done more to finance my campaign than you have Nancy, please spend the next months convincing people your party is brain-dead.”

He added: “The idea that Pelosi thinks that she can somehow bluff Mitch McConnell … verges on requiring a psychologist. She has no leverage on him. None. And it makes her look weak and foolish.”

Gingrich Singles Out CNN for Toxic Environment

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At an Axios event, Newt Gingrich claimed the toxicity of the current political climate is “everyone’s fault,” pointing to social media and the “tribalization” of cable news — specifically CNN — as some of the main factors.

When asked why there was such a quick move on the right to call yesterday’s mail bombs a conspiracy, Gingrich answered, “Because it’s October.”

How Newt Gingrich Paved the Way for Trump

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The Atlantic: “In the clamorous story of Donald Trump’s Washington, it would be easy to mistake Gingrich for a minor character. A loyal Trump ally in 2016, Gingrich forwent a high-powered post in the administration and has instead spent the years since the election cashing in on his access—churning out books (three Trump hagiographies, one spy thriller), working the speaking circuit (where he commands as much as $75,000 per talk for his insights on the president), and popping up on Fox News as a paid contributor. He spends much of his time in Rome, where his wife, Callista, serves as Trump’s ambassador to the Vatican.”

“But few figures in modern history have done more than Gingrich to lay the groundwork for Trump’s rise. During his two decades in Congress, he pioneered a style of partisan combat—replete with name-calling, conspiracy theories, and strategic obstructionism—that poisoned America’s political culture and plunged Washington into permanent dysfunction. Gingrich’s career can perhaps be best understood as a grand exercise in devolution—an effort to strip American politics of the civilizing traits it had developed over time and return it to its most primal essence.”

Gingrich Compares FBI to Stalin and Nazis

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Newt Gingrich tore into the FBI after its raid of President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, likening agents’ actions to those of the secret police during the Nazi regime, The Hill reports.

Said Gingrich: “This whole thing is an absurdity. We’ve now had Paul Manafort and his wife in their pajamas at 3 in the morning having the FBI break down the door. Cohen, the lawyer, had the door taken off of the hinges at 6 in the morning.”

He added: “It ain’t the rule of law when they kick in your door at 3 in the morning and you’re faced with armed men. And you have had no reason to be told you’re going to have that kind of treatment. That’s Stalin. That’s the Gestapo in Germany. That shouldn’t be the American FBI.”

Quote of the Day

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“I quit worrying about his tweets — and I think some of the stuff he does is outrageous — but he has a larger vision of creativity. He intuits how he can polarize.”

— Newt Gingrich, quoted by the Washington Post, saying he has “come to see the value” of President Trump’s use of Twitter.

Gingrich Torches Scaramucci

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Newt Gingrich harshly criticized White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci in a radio interview with Laura Ingraham, calling his recent actions “divisive” and “unhelpful.”

Said Gingrich: “I think that Scaramucci had better be a lot more careful than he has been. He obviously likes the limelight. He obviously likes being in the media. I would say right now that he’s being more pugnacious than effective. I think he ought to slow down a little bit and learn what he’s doing… If he’s gonna be that divisive, I’m not sure he’s gonna be very useful to the President.”

He added: “I think Scaramucci’s full of himself.”

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Blame Gingrich

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This piece is only available to Political Wire members.

It’s not really fair to use yesterday’s horrific shooting at a congressional baseball game to draw broader inferences about the state of American politics. After all, it was just one deranged gunman. He was clearly acting on his political views, but he wasn’t part of any serious political movement.

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Newt Gingrich, Then and Now

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“No one should be confused.Obamacare repeal if it passes will be Trump’s triumph. He personally intervened to save bill when it faced defeat.”

— Newt Gingrich, at 7:27 am.

“Why would you schedule a vote on a bill that is at 17 percent approval? Have we forgotten everything Reagan taught us?”

— Gingrich, at 2:36 pm.

Bonus Quote of the Day

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“I would say to Sen. Schumer, if you look what happened to Jeb Bush or you look what happened to Hillary Clinton, you should be very worried if Donald Trump decides to focus on you because, so far, the track record is pretty good that he can define you a lot better than you can define him.”

— Newt Gingrich, quoted by Politico, warning Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) not to get into a public fight with Donald Trump.

Gingrich Worries Trump Team Won’t Be Tough Enough

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Newt Gingrich told ABC News that his greatest worry is that President-elect Donald Trump and his team will “lose their nerve” once in office.

Said Gingrich: “Look, they’re going to arrive in Washington, and for them to be successful they have to stake out positions that DNC Chairwoman Donna Brazile will not like and the left will hate. I’m worried that when they realize how big the problem is, that they decide that they’re just going to do the best they can and give in.”

He added: “You’re going to have the government employees going crazy about civil service reform. You’re going to have the teachers union going crazy over school choice. And these are pretty nonnegotiable. I mean, if you’re serious about school choice, there is no agreement with the teachers union.”

Quote of the Day

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“The Constitution gives the president of the United States an extraordinarily wide grant of authority to use the power of the pardon. I’m not saying he should. I’m not saying he will. It also allows a president in a national security moment to say to somebody, go do X even if it’s technically against the law and here’s your pardon because I am ordering you as commander-in-chief to go do this.”

— Newt Gingrich, in an interview with NPR.

Quote of the Day

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“In the case of the president, he has a broad ability to organize the White House the way he wants to. He also has, frankly, the power of the pardon. It’s a totally open power. He could simply say, ‘Look, I want them to be my advisers. I pardon them if anyone finds them to have behaved against the rules. Period. Technically, under the Constitution, he has that level of authority.”

— Newt Gingrich, quoted by Politico.

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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