Posted on 06/10/2016 5:20:21 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Is Newt Gingrich distancing himself from Trump or promising to be the responsible party who will really run a Trump administration?
The following things were said about Donald Trump in recent days: “This is one of the worst mistakes Trump has made. I think it’s inexcusable;” “the kinds of mistakes that amateurs make;” and “an absurd amateur mistake.”
It is not at all unusual that someone said those things. They are pretty obvious responses to Trump’s attempt to turn his personal grudge against a judge, tinged with an element of prejudice against people of Mexican descent, into a campaign theme.
What’s unusual is who said them: Newt Gingrich, an early establishment endorser of Trump and potential vice-presidential candidate.
So how should we interpret these criticisms? Is Gingrich laying the groundwork for a de-endorsement and abandonment of Trump? Or more likely, is it a way to support Trump while trying to keep from being tarred by Trump’s behavior? (Good luck with that.)
Or there’s a more intriguing possibility: Gingrich is running for shadow president.
Consider how this sort of thing will be taken if Gingrich actually does get the vice-presidential nod or some other prominent position in the administration. The message is, “Sure, Trump is crazy and shoots off his mouth off and makes these absurdly amateur mistakes. But he’ll be surrounded by responsible adults like me who will walk everything back and tamp it down and keep it from becoming a problem.” From which we could draw the further inference, “So maybe you should just come to me first, bypass the flashy, loudmouthed figurehead, and go straight to the people who actually runs things.”
Gingrich is running to be what Democrats thought Dick Cheney was for George W. Bush. He is positioning himself, or someone like himself, as the power behind the throne.
I say “or someone like himself,” but let’s face it, Gingrich would almost certainly like it to be himself. Back in the 1990s, I read what was basically Gingrich’s campaign book — the kind of book you write when you’re running for president, except that Gingrich wrote it when he was about to become speaker of the House, and that tells you something. A recurring theme was that Gingrich is a big fan of historian Arnold Toynbee’s “challenge and response” theory. The idea is that in every era, some big central crisis to our civilization presents itself, requiring a great man and visionary leader to rise to the occasion and champion a creative response to that challenge. It was pretty clear that Gingrich saw himself as this visionary leader.
His vision has frequently changed whether it was futurism and free laptops, Contract with America, or a 51st state on the moon. The specific vision changes, but the thing that remains the same is his belief that eventually America will realize the man it needs to lead it out of an era of crisis is none other than Newt Gingrich.
He’s been hanging around, waiting for that moment for a long time. And now, just when it seems that it passed him by, he has his second chance — this time with Trump as the powerful personality who captures the public’s imagination, but with Gingrich as the real visionary behind the scenes.
Maybe this sounds too much like a conspiracy theory or something even more ridiculously implausible, like the plot line of a Shonda Rhimes television show.
Then again, isn’t this the central case offered to us for Trump by the establishment GOP types who have come over to his side? Trump’s original sales pitch was that he would be the loose cannon who would break things and disrupt the establishment and overturn the status quo. Now we’re being told: don’t worry, Trump will moderate. As Gingrich puts it, Trump has learned “in the last two days and has taken very significant steps away from that and moved toward a more controlled, more civil approach.” So the new sales pitch is that Trump will have sensible people around him, people like us, who will take all of this populist rhetoric and divert it into responsible channels.
In other words, the concept of an establishment shadow presidency with Trump as its figurehead is already central to the Republican Party leadership’s acceptance of him as their candidate. It’s certainly central to the personal ambitions of many of the people now attaching themselves to his campaign.
Maybe that’s how it will play out, or maybe it’s the establishment types who are fooling themselves and will find themselves double-crossed by Trump. If this really is a live-action Shonda Rhimes show, then we know things aren’t necessarily what they seem, and there’s going to be some kind of crazy twist, even if it doesn’t make very much sense.
And Gingrich running for shadow president makes about as much sense as anything else this election year.
That is why I agree with Alex Jones and Roger Stone: Jeff Sessions will ultimately be Trump’s VP. Newt can continue to spout off without actual consequences.
Republicans are the most disloyal, backstabbing, cannibalistic creatures on the face of this Earth
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Pretty much what I told the RNC solicitor that called tonight looking for money.
Trump doesn't want a yes man. If that were the case, he'd pick Rubio who bends in the wind.
I think the writer is over-thinking it.
Newt is Newt. He will tell you what he thinks whether it hurts him or helps him, he is too old to care at this point. I do think he would like to be there in Trump’s inner circle and if he is there, he will say what he thinks whether anyone likes it or not. He wants it, but not enough to be anyone’s toady.
If Trump is smart, and he is, he will want people around him who can take orders, but he will also want people around him who will give their unvarnished opinion when asked.
Newt can step in it from time to time. I think that’s all this is. Maybe he got the word that as veep he’s out.
I hope so, Newt would be a LOUSY choice. I love Newt, mostly, but he can stay or go, matters not.
I think Newt would make an excellent WH COS. Putting him on the ticket would not benefit Trump. Our country loves youth and novelty. Age and wisdom are just so yesterday. That’s why Hillary will lose. Trump would be well advised pick a running mate who’s under 50, a fresh face, articulate, a military veteran, and considered scrupulously honest. That’s why Trump should select Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas as his running mate.
“For The Race everything. Outside The Race, nothing.”
Lol...the Liberal Left Loon Federalist...not to be mistaken for anything resembling Federism. The Federalist are NeverTrumpers.
Federalism
So long as Donald Trump demonstrates that he is incapable of controlling his mouth he will incur defection among the Republican elites and, ultimately, among Republican rank and file voters. Worse, he will be undermining conservatism in America with every foolish utterance.
Politicians are businessmen they are in the business of politics and, like all businessmen, they are intent on protecting their brand. There is nothing in politics today more toxic than to be labeled a racist. No Republican, no intelligent conservative, associates himself or even tolerates any gratuitous remark which can legitimately be described as racist.
No one has been more adamant on these threads than I have that phony claims of racism are the stuff of Democratic Party politics and must be opposed where ever encountered. That argument can be seen in my decade-old about page. It is a contributing reason why I use the name and avatar which I use. I repeatedly advance Nathan Bedford's first maxim of American politics:
All politics in America is not local but ultimately racial.
The problem here is that Trump's remarks were not merely gratuitous, the problem is not that they were stupid-which they indisputably were-but that they were ultimately selfish because they placed Donald Trump's personal interest above the cause which is campaign represents. In other words, Trump's reaction was ego driven because he was willing to court a charge of racism in order to combat charges that he committed fraud. In resorting to this defense, or at least in resorting to it in such a clumsy manner, his ego ran over common sense. The damage down ticket to conservatives running for inferior offices is potentially very great if Trump cannot get his ego and his mouth under control. These remarks are dispiriting to those of us who have committed to support Donald Trump in this election. We want him to win but he is needlessly making a very daunting task for any Republican candidate even more difficult for himself and for those of us who wish him well in this election.
IMO Newt is by far the bast choice for VP. His ego matches Trump’s so I would expect they would understand each other and be able to get along...if nothing else they could commiserate about their bad marital choices
I agree...Trump has spent his life in and around the rich and powerful of Washington...He knows who is doing what and why...
Thank you. This is insightful. Trump really needs to get better at this.
Give it up. Cruz lost big time in Indiana, and that was the beginning of his end.
Really sorry,Newt, but you bit off more than you can chew. Consider being on the ticket a thing of the past. You shot yourself by joining in with the RINOS .
GO TRUMP! Go Duncan Hunter. Go Jeff Sessions.
I will NEVR vot for Cruz. He is NOT eligible and I respect the Constitution.
Yep, keep him as a ‘friend’ but not a member of the administration.
I agree.
Yeah, that Ronald Reagan guy was a real gem, huh?
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