Posted on 06/25/2016 9:09:04 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
LOVE HIM or hate him, there’s never been a presidential candidate quite like Donald Trump, and there’s never been a presidential campaign season quite like this. All the ordinary rules etched into political science textbooks about how politicians should walk, talk and strategize have been tossed out the window.
It’s a new political world, and that makes the political-prediction business as unreliable as the weather—and at times, as volatile as hurricane season.
But this is precisely why at this chaotic moment in U.S. history, when it feels as though almost anything can happen, Trump will likely pick as his vice-presidential running mate Newt Gingrich, a well-established, well-known political insider. The Gingrich choice would expand Trump’s image as a renegade outsider hell-bent on tearing down the status quo, by bringing in a politically experienced and astute partner whose mastery of the inside game of national politics once made him extraordinarily effective in forcing change.
Gingrich would surely be an interesting pick. Despite his long history in the Republican Party, he doesn’t fit the conventional mold for a modern Republican vice-presidential candidate. He isn’t young and energetic; he can’t deliver Trump an important swing state such as Iowa, Florida or Ohio; and he wouldn’t make a particularly spectacular ambassador to minority groups, those living in urban city centers, or to women—groups polling show Trump is struggling to win over.
What Gingrich can bring to the table, however, is a storied, policy-centered past. As speaker of the House from 1995 through 1998, he achieved several important, pro-liberty policy victories.
In 1996, Gingrich worked to implement much-needed welfare reform, which led to a nationwide decline in welfare rolls of 70 percent. Many of the reform ideas Gingrich promoted and urged lawmakers to adopt at the state level—including time limits, work requirements and asset tests—are still being discussed and advanced today in state capitals across the country.
Throughout the 1990s, Gingrich and the Republican-led Congress oversaw tremendous economic growth, and under Gingrich’s leadership, Republicans demanded President Bill Clinton agree to important government spending cuts, which eventually led to a budget surplus, a feat that now seems virtually unthinkable. They accomplished all this despite reports released in 1995 from the Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office predicting $200 billion budget deficits for the rest of the 1990s.
Gingrich’s congressional history, while impressive, is by no means a perfect picture of pure conservatism. In the 1980s, Gingrich opposed drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, before reversing course on drilling in the late 2000s. In the 1990s, Gingrich supported a government-imposed individual health insurance mandate. In 2008, he acknowledged on ABC’s “This Week” he would have voted “reluctantly” for bailing out failing billion-dollar banks had he still been in Congress.
Although Gingrich may not be the most charismatic or exciting potential vice- presidential pick, he does have something to offer almost everyone Trump needs to bring together if he’s going to capture the White House in November.
Gingrich is one of the few mainstream conservative voices to have supported Trump from the beginning (or close to it), making him a palatable choice for Trump’s devoted base. Gingrich can appeal to middle-of-the-road voters and those skeptical of Trump’s lack of governing experience, thanks to his own decades-long career in Washington.
Gingrich would also likely help Trump appeal to the “Never Trump” crowd concerned about the real estate mogul’s left-leaning past and history of supporting Democratic Party candidates, including Hillary Clinton herself. Perhaps conservatives would see Gingrich as a reliable agent able to ensure Trump chooses true constitutionalists to fill current and future Supreme Court vacancies.
Most important, in a year when few may actually be willing to sign on to Trump’s controversial campaign, Gingrich has repeatedly indicated he is interested in the job—and that may very well prove to be the most important qualification of all.
I never watched Apprentice, so I’m not familiar with her, but I loved Lt. Dan.
It is going to be Senator Jeff Sessions.
Yeah, I don’t see any other viable candidate other than Sessions. Newt has too much baggage. It would have been better if Sessions was 20 years younger and from Ohio but it is what it is. Sessions is a battle tested Trump supporter and has some beltway gravitas as a sitting Senator. Logical pick for Trump, IMO. He can’t risk throwing somebody untested into the nuclear war that this campaign is. Sessions will be the pick.
...with a very short life expectancy.
She is a tall black woman who kept getting into fights with everyone - pretty funny. She became sort of a celebrity for this.
You can’t be serious. Cruz is the snake in the poem Trump recited on the campaign trail. He’s a worse narcissist than Obama, and like Barry, isn’t constitutionally eligible to hold the office.
Try again.
No. Not in a million years.
Ted is ineligible to hold the office. Besides, he’s a lying, backstabbing puke who won’t even win re-election to the Senate.
Next!
bump to the very top
I don’t believe Reagan “picked” the runner up. He was ordered to pick Bush.
Boy are you in for a big surprise.
Newt for Chief of staff not VP. Newt has his own baggage but knows the ropes of an insider to get things done. He needs to be close to the president but not VP. Chief of staff is really a more effective post than VP which is mostly ceremonial.
If Trump is ordered to pick someone they will order Corker or Kasich
“Despite all that happened during the campaign, Trump likes Cruz and donated to him years ago when he had no reason to do so. Cruz is already parroting the Trump talking points and is not even on the ticket.”
When did you wake from your coma Cinderella???
You are certifiable at this point... you do realize this right??? Seriously... ? WOW.... Cruz destroyed his political career. GONE... ZIP... Romney has more of a chance... and he has less than zero chance... WOW.. step away from the keyboard.
I can’t believe you’re still carrying Ted’s water, after everything that’s happened during the primary.
The guy has proven himself to be unworthy of anyone’s support, and has done his level best to undermine Trump in every covert way he could, since he left the race.
Why you keep your hopes up for that miserable sonofabitch is anyone’s guess.
point noted, Marsha's easy on the eyes and will help rake in more female voters nation-wide, but Trump doesn't particularly need help to win Tennessee. 
How about Iowa's Joni Ernst?. She could also help Donald tear away female voters from Hitlery, but also in a much needed midwest swing-state to boot! “Boy are you in for a big surprise.”
Oh really? I recall you singing that same tune the whole last year, but you were dead wrong. Your boy got crushed.
Agreed... and Bush senior is scum.... if you have not done any background on him, Flipping scary.
Gingrich resigned after failing.
Then he wet himself saying that Barack Obama was the most eloquent President in our history.
He was on TV gushing after Obama spoke in Cairo.
.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.