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.
It’s just Newt being Newt. Always gotta be the center of attention.
‘Cept Huckster was a lousy RINO Governor and one of the worst open-borders pols to hold office. It took his liberal Democrat successor 8 years to undo the stink and damage to the GOP before it could rise from the ashes Huckster left behind.
Oh brother, look who decided to chime in. Sorry Nate, but Trump does not need your “wisdom.” He’s gotten this far from not listening to folks like you.
BTW, Nathan Bedford looks like he’s constipated.
I agree about Newt. He’s a product of the 90s Republicans that promised us the world. CWA, balanced budgets, rule of law, blah, blah, blah. What they delivered to us were lies, appeasement of liberals and further erosion of our country.
He isn’t the kind of ‘Old Guard’ I want back in a position of power in this country.
Say what? Trump isn’t the type to abide by sting-pullers that would make him their puppet - whole article is mush.
Second, Sessions is absolutely behind the "Build that Wall" game plan. Newt's dedication to that objective is questionable.
Reality 101:
Lyin' Ted (and Heidi) have been Bushie/Goldman-Sachs Establishmentarians from the very start.
Lyin' Ted's support of Pathway Amnesty, Corker's Nukes for Iran, TPP, etc.
Add Heidi's NO BORDERS/North American Union and you have the quintessential Establishment couple.
Well said.
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My take on this is that Trump...no matter what you feel about him....is not dumb or an amateur. Everything he says and does is for a reason.
I think he purposely said the things, about the judge, without baking down... to find out what those he might want for VP or cabinet say about it?
All along this has happened over and over and he came out on top. I see a pattern for him doing this and still winning. I think he is a master at this whole thing and it takes the rest of us to finally realize it.
Note: The Federalist was clearly for Ted Cruz in the primaries, but the founder Ben Domenech would not join The Never Trump movement. However, the site became filled with Never Trumpers. Many were just trying to fight off Trump to get Cruz to win like Mary Katherine Ham, who left Hot Air to The Federalist in 2015, but it failed. So, just like American Thinker, they are lukewarm on Trump. The site is pretty new by conservative standards. Though sites pop up and many implode monthly, especially with people trying to bash or defend Trump on the right. Majority of The Federalist authors, contributors and creators came from Townhall.
And yet the reality is he’s one of the most Conservative U.S. Senators and the claims of being a Bushbot have been debunked. You could say that in 2000, but not in 2016.
“I just don’t like the guy.” — GW Bush on Ted Cruz
Sorry...but Lyin’ Ted’s (and Heidi’s) record & associations documents he’s pure Establishment. I listed just a few items on his Establishment/Traitor record that you seem to gloss over.
Plus, he has not provided any document that proves he’s a US citizen let alone a NBC.
His cheating and fraudulent practices during the primaries were disgusting...as well as his adultery with Amanda Carpenter.
Denying reality does not make it true.
We’ve been over this nonsense before. Your perception of Cruz does not meet reality. For someone from Ohio, you should work on doing something about the plethora of REAL leftist establishment cretins infesting your state before badmouthing Texas’s best U.S. Senator in the past 150 years.
GO TRUMP-CRUZ 2016 !
What can’t YED! bots like you see the reality of Establishment YED!
You simply cannot refute the evidence and always attempt to redirect by attacking your opponents - how very Alinskyesque.
Saul Alinsky and Josef Stalin would be proud of Useful Idiots like you.
Now go away, YED-BOT!
Your Soros-meatpuppet RINO Governor and pimp for perversion RINO Senator are calling to you.
I support Cruz, a proven Conservative and anti-establishment statesman. Deal with it.
Have a nice day.
LOL!
Delusional and emotionally misguided.
That would be political suicide for Trump.
Picking a proven Conservative leader and second highest-vote getter is “political suicide” ? Whut ?
And your choice for VP is ?
Newt is the man. He has been around forever, which tells us he knows how things run. He is a Conservative who understands Liberalism..and how it can erode the country, a little at a time. New knows Congress and how to make things stay in line. He is definitely the man for the job.
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