"Sanders 2020" Terrifies Democrats

Last week President Trump named Vice President Pence to head his administration’s efforts against the coronavirus, allotting 2.5 billion dollars to combat the novel virus. The President faced almost immediate backlash from Democratic lawmakers, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accusing the President of “hiding the truth.”

Newt Gingrich told The Cats Roundtable the way the coronavirus has been addressed has “maximized people’s fears” since it first appeared in Wuhan, China, citing the punishing of activists and doctors in China for garnering international attention for the outbreak in the midst of mass quarantines.

The former Speaker of the House told The Cats Roundtable, “Anytime you get a brand new virus, you have to pay attention because you don’t know what it’s going to mutate into—you don’t know how much it could spread,” but also added he disagreed that the coronavirus was a crisis.

What is certain to Gingrich is the economic repercussions of the outbreak, with stock markets pulling back amid rising anxiety about the virus and global supply chains disrupted.

Gingrich criticized the partisan response from lawmakers as Trump attempted to mobilize against the coronavirus. “It’s just amazing to watch,” he said, “but it is where we are.”

He reflected that Democrats are in crisis mode, and it’s not over Trump’s response to COVID-19.

He called the Democratic primary debate this past Tuesday “a big hit to the Democratic party” and dubbed the performances of the nominees “childish.”

While the Democrats candidates gathered in South Carolina this past Tuesday, President Trump and the First Lady returned from their trip to India, with President Trump calling the India-US relationship “stronger than ever before.” The trip coincides with India’s growing position as one of the US’s strongest allies and trading partners in South Asia.

“They are the counterbalance to China in the Indian Ocean,” Gingrich said, contrasting the “childish” performance of the Democratic nominees with Trump’s aplomb during his India visit, which included a “Namaste Trump” event in Ahmedabad that saw 120,000 attendees.

Following Joe Biden’s win this Saturday in South Carolina, all eyes are on Super Tuesday next week, where Gingrich’s gut feeling is Sander’s will end up with more delegates than we could expect. With Biden’s win, it remains to be seen if Sander’s momentum has dampened.

But Sanders as a front runner is causing moderate Democrats “to wake up” to the consequences. Many of the Democratic candidates have alluded they will be sticking in the race until the Democratic National Convention.

“If they have an avowed Democratic Socialist as the nominee, they could easily lose the House and lose three or four seats in the Senate,” Gingrich told The Cats Roundtable. “And I think that it’s only now beginning to sink in how real this is.”