The countdown for the November election continues to tick down, and to many, like former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Following a whirlwind week in Washington that included the vice presidential debate on October 7th, Gingrich joined The Cats Roundtable to break down how he sees the path ahead unfolding.
“I thought Vice President Pence did an amazing job,” Gingrich asserted about the debate, adding that Pence had successfully taken the debate to Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice presidential nominee. The debate on October 7th was calm compared to the presidential debate on September 29th. Gingrich told The Cats Roundtable he thought Pence had put Harris in a difficult bind.
“I was sort of astonished, the degree in which he could take up her record,” Gingrich explained. “The more he got her to talk, I thought the more clearly she was defining herself out of the race.”
To Gingrich, the winner of the debate was clear, and it was made clearer with the October 8th announcement by the Presidential Debate Commission to make the next presidential debate virtual. President Trump was quick to reject the idea of a virtual debate, while Biden’s campaign rejected offers by Trump’s team to postpone the debate.
“I could tell he won because the Debate Commission deliberately announced the idea of a virtual debate the next morning,” Gingrich explained about Pence’s performance, adding that he believed the commission’s announcement was timed to “smother” Pence’s success.
The former Speaker of the House accused the Presidential Debate Commission of being part of a larger anti-Trump streak among political elites that also includes mainstream conservatives, such as the Bush’s. When push comes to shove, the Bush’s and other establishment conservatives have “inevitably” become threatened by Trump, who’s policies often seek to undo the decisions of previous administrations, both red and blue alike.
“I think Trump is a genuinely disruptive figure, who is changing America, and upsetting the whole political structure,” Gingrich told The Cats Roundtable, adding that as a “populist representing the rest of the country” Trump was a challenge to Washington insiders on both sides of the aisle.
And while the President recovers from the coronavirus, this week Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi questioned Trump’s fitness to serve and introduced a 25th amendment measure.
Gingrich said Pelosi’s unprecedented move might be part of a longer-term strategy of Democrats, especially in the case of a Biden-Harris administration.
“I think the left plans to replace Biden with Kamala Harris,” Gingrich claimed. “I think if you want to talk about somebody who has a problem being president, it’s the guy who’s hiding in the basement.”
As a historian, Gingrich said the only time he could recall an election that held this much consequence was the 1864 election when Lincoln won reelection.
“I would just simply say this is the most important election of your lifetime,” Gingrich said. “Make sure you vote, make sure your friends vote, make sure they know exactly what’s going on. Talk with them, and get past what the news media propaganda is trying to do. I think it’s unbelievably important, so I really believe as citizens we have an opportunity to really make a dramatic difference. And we have to be prepared to go out and do that.”
Listen to the interview below
