Newt Gingrich Defines Trumpism: ‘If You See Something That’s Really Stupid, Change It’

"He's three different people," Gingrich said of the president-elect. "If you want to understand how Trump operates, he has the disruptive patterns of Andrew Jackson, he has the sheer biological energy of Theodore Roosevelt, and he has the compulsive salesmanship of P.T. Barnum.

"And these three weave together to produce outcomes that are dramatically better than anyone I've ever seen."

Gingrich noted that the Republican Party is now at a "watershed" moment in the life of the nation.

"We are potentially, if we do our jobs, at a genuine watershed. I always use the watershed model because when the rain comes down, if it hits this side of the watershed, it goes this way. If it hits this side, it goes this way. It's decisive.

"So, for example, in the Appalachians, there's a point the water will go either to the Gulf of Mexico, or it'll go to the Atlantic. It's that decisive," Gingrich said.

Gingrich pointed out there are now "over 4,100 state legislators, the most in the history of the Republican Party since its founding in 1854. The most ever. We have 34 governors, which ties the most in modern times. We have 25 states in which the legislature and the governor are Republican, which means in theory, we should be held accountable for whether or not we're really different."

If Trump really wanted to make an impact on spending and the future of the country he would get rid of BASELINE BUDGETING begun with trhe Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

The whole mess is flawed and encourages massive waste, fraud and abuse. It is the basis for spend it or lose it end of year spending binges by every agency and the military. Just las week I saw lines of 70 inch top of the line flat panel TVs lining the squadron halls bought to spend up budget. Things like this happen every year. Where else do you think the piles of brand new surplus stuff come from?

Read about this insult to drunken sailors here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseline_(budgeting)

“In 1987, however, the Congress amended the definition of the baseline so that discretionary appropriations would be adjusted to keep pace with inflation. Other technical changes, annual increase of now approximately 3% plus inflation, to the definition of the baseline were enacted in 1990, 1993, and 1997. Presently, the [automatic annual] Baseline Budgeting increase is about 7%.”

This doubles the national budget about every 10 years. The feral gubment says there is no inflation but in this 7% there is 4% inflation for their spending. What the hell?

Is your income or spending doubling every 10 years? Mine sure as hell is not and has not ever for the last 40 years.

it is sickening. Trump could hit a home run if he would tackle this fraud and theft from the taxpayers.

We need ZERO based budgeting so that every year budgets would have to be examined and justified. Mine has to be. How about yours?

Good post! On the money (so to speak).

Any businessman knows how to look at financials and make decisions. I’ve been wondering how Trump will deal with the lack of honest reporting on government spending (e.g. “off budget expenditures”). So much obfuscation exists.

He’ll need an honest reporting system. Unfortunately that could take years. Maybe he could build something in parallel...

It’s a pleasure to listen to Newt Gingrich.

“That is, when Trump would go out and raise the money to build a building, the people actually expected a building. And so he had to contemplate what does it take to build a building? And then he actually had to get the building built,” Gingrich explained.”

This is simple. But how many politicians promise with no intention of following through? How about talking heads on TV. If their ideas were pursued, would they work?

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