http://www.huffingtonpost.com/herb-silverman/trump-and-gingrich-a-marr_b_10559832.html
Donald Trump is undoubtedly looking for a running mate whose views and personality are similar to his. I can’t think of a better mate than Newt Gingrich, who at times seems Trumpier than Trump. Here’s my pitch for Gingrich:
Donald Trump is undoubtedly looking for a running mate whose views and personality are similar to his. I can’t think of a better mate than Newt Gingrich, who at times seems Trumpier than Trump. Here’s my pitch for Gingrich:
1. Six wives club: Both acknowledge committing adultery with at least one of their three wives, while promoting family values. Gingrich served his first wife with divorce papers while she was recovering from cancer surgery. He next married his then-mistress, whom he later divorced to marry wife number three, a staffer.
2. Revenge on political enemies: Gingrich admitted to reporters that he led the disastrous shutdown of the government in 1995 partly because President Clinton allegedly had him relegated to the rear of Air Force One on a flight home from Yitzhak Rabin’s funeral. But to his credit, Gingrich didn’t make up an unflattering nickname for Bill Clinton. But this is a skill I’m sure he could learn from the master Trump, who once offered to pay legal costs for those who assaulted protestors at his rallies.
3. Experience fooling evangelicals: Newt Gingrich assumed that Pat Robertson’s followers on his television network were gullible enough to believe his excuse that he had committed adultery because he was working so hard for the country. Newt then claimed that God understood and forgave him for his excessive patriotism.
Donald Trump said he couldn’t disclose his tax returns because of audits, adding, “Maybe I get audited so much because I’m a strong Christian.” Really? How much faith does that statement require? At the recent Faith and Freedom Summit, Trump showed his commitment to religious freedom: “We will respect and defend Christian Americans. Christian Americans,” but said nothing about defending people of other faiths or the non-religious.
4. Deep concern about national security: Gingrich might not be as enthusiastic about building walls as Trump, but he told an appreciative crowd at a South Carolina megachurch, “Removing God from the public arena is the biggest domestic threat to America today.”
5. Both cry media bias: Donald Trump is known for denying statements of his that the media has on tape. Not to be outdone, here’s how Newt Gingrich claimed that Democrats and the media were dishonest: “So let me say on the record, any ad which quotes what I said on Sunday is a falsehood.”
6. Disgraceful political pandering: If Donald Trump slipped on a banana peel, he would probably look for ways to blame it on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Newt Gingrich has a long track record of political pandering and hypocrisy, but I think the worst instance happened in my home state of South Carolina in 1994, where Susan Smith tragically drowned her two children. Three days after the incident and just before the November election, Gingrich said that such violence somehow arose from a Democratic-controlled political system. When asked if the Republican change he was offering the country would stop killings like those in South Carolina, he replied, “Yes. In my judgment, there’s no question.”
This case bears more consideration. I agree with Newt that we need to change aspects of the society in which Susan Smith was raised. She was not raised with any dreaded liberal influence. Beverly Russell married Susan’s mother after she divorced Susan’s dad, and from the age of 6 her stepfather raised Susan in a strict church-going home. At age 13, Susan attempted suicide so she could be with her father in heaven. At 15, Susan told authorities that her stepfather had been sexually molesting her for over a year. Susan’s mother talked her out of pursuing charges against Russell. At 18, Susan again attempted suicide. At Susan’s murder trial, Russell admitted that he was still having sex with his stepdaughter as recently as two months before she killed her children.
Beverly Russell, who had been campaigning for Newt Gingrich, was a Republican leader in South Carolina and local organizer of Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition, championing “family values” and “school prayer” as partisan Republican issues. Russell was urging nationwide prayer during the nine days that Susan Smith had the country hunting for a nonexistent black carjacking kidnapper whom she had blamed. After finally confessing, Susan Smith said knowing that her two sons were happy in heaven consoled her.
Did Gingrich apologize for this political pandering and mischaracterization in the Susan Smith case? No, he remained silent during the trial and after the conviction. Gingrich probably justified such comments in his mind by believing he helped improve our country. That’s a tactic Trump could admire.
After the 1994 election, what did Newt do to help improve the country? He led his “pro-family” forces in the House of Representatives in dismembering the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, which made it easier for well-connected businessmen like Beverly Russell to keep “it” within the family.
Bottom line: It’s hard to find a more compatible running mate for Donald Trump than Newt Gingrich.
