Thread: Gingrich calls Trump tweet about vote fraud a big mistake

Gingrich calls Trump tweet about vote fraud a big mistake

Susan Page , USA TODAY
2:46 p.m. EST November 29, 2016

50th Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich discusses Trump's possible appointment of Mitt Romney as Secretary of State with USA TODAY Washington bureau chief Susan Page. USA TODAY


WASHINGTON — Former House speaker Newt Gingrich calls Donald Trump a potentially transformative president. But he shouldn't have sent out that tweet alleging election fraud.

In an interview Tuesday with Capital Download, Gingrich, a free-wheeling Trump adviser who is a vice-chairman of his transition team, described the president-elect as a leader who is poised to disrupt the regular order in a way no commander in chief has done since Andrew Jackson in the 19th century.

But he also said that Trump's biggest misstep in the three weeks since he won the White House was to post on Twitter Sunday a complaint asserting widespread voter fraud, and in an election he won. "In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide," Trump wrote, "I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally."

"The president of the United States can't randomly tweet without having somebody check it out," Gingrich told USA TODAY's weekly video newsmaker series. "It makes you wonder about whatever else he's doing. It undermines much more than a single tweet."

Does he see any evidence of millions of illegal votes?

"No," Gingrich says.

The former House speaker, who led a political disruption of his own when Republicans won control of the House of Representatives in 1994, says the best thing Trump has done so far is to name campaign chairman Steve Bannon and Republican national chairman Reince Priebus to his top White House staff. "You have a very hard-line conservative warrior as your chief strategist and you have a really sophisticated manager of the establishment as your chief of staff," he says.

That said, Gingrich is caustic toward another potential Trump appointment, of Mitt Romney, the GOP's 2012 presidential nominee. Trump and Romney were slated to meet Tuesday for a second time, reportedly to discuss the role of secretary of State for the GOP's 2012 nominee, who was perhaps Trump's fiercest Republican critic during the campaign.

"I think it's outrageous," Gingrich says. "Romney said vile and vicious things. Romney opposed him all the way up to the election. In my judgment, Romney will be a very high risk ... because I think Romney has zero interest in the Trump revolution and every interest in re-establishing his own credentials."

While he views former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani as a better choice, Gingrich says House Speaker Paul Ryan "is very strongly in favor of Romney" and that Priebus is "pretty strongly" in favor of him. Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, however, has warned of a grassroots revolt if Romney is named to the Cabinet's top job.

When he met with Trump last week, Gingrich says, "He commented, 'This is really a bigger job than I thought.' Which is good. He should think that." As president, Gingrich went on, "you have war and peace, you have enormous powers ... and it all comes down to the Oval Office and it all comes down to you."

He argues that Trump, who hasn't held a news conference since July, should feel no obligation to hold any as president, suggesting instead he solicit questions from the public to answer. "The news media so totally disgraced itself in this election, if I were Trump I would just say no," Gingrich says.

"And if the White House Correspondents Association doesn't like it, I'd say, 'Fine, disband.'"

Gingrich says the political world hasn't yet come to grips with the sort of fundamental change the election of "the most insurgent president in American history" could bring. He describes Trump as "one-third Andrew Jackson in disruption, one-third Theodore Roosevelt in sheer energy, and one-third P.T. Barnum in selling all the time."

But he says Trump might need to occasionally curb his instincts.

"He should tweet, but he ought to have an editorial board in-between the first draft and sending it," he suggests — not an idea Trump seems likely to accept. "But he shouldn't give it up, and he shouldn't give up being Donald Trump. He got elected being this unique, charismatic, entrepreneurial guy who breaks lots of rules. ... If he starts getting to be normal, he'll cease being Donald J. Trump."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...take/94604846/

Hey!! Back off, Newt. You don't know squat. I posted on ALIPAC that Trump would have won the popular vote if there weren't millions of illegal aliens voting in the election. And I believe every word of my post. Millions in New York, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Then I see Trump make a Tweet saying the same thing I had posted.

I'm right and he's right, so sit down and shut up, because you don't know squat. You really don't, Newt I'll never understand why people think you're so smart when nothing you've proposed on your own did a damn thing except force you to resign from Congress.

Donald Trump, you keep tweeting whatever your heart and mind tell you to tweet. I actually love how upset the MEDIA gets over one of your tweets!!!

Trump has yet to be wrong about anything, and when he's President he will prove that millions of illegal aliens and noncitizens voted in the 2016 Presidential Election, especially in the above mentioned states. I'm sure others voted in New Hampshire and Virginia and some other states as well but not to the degree of the other states.

I think Newt and Trump would butt heads. Newt is kind of a bully. He is smart...but he needs to watch his mouth.

Originally Posted by Beezer

I think Newt and Trump would butt heads. Newt is kind of a bully. He is smart...but he needs to watch his mouth.

Newt is articulate, he's not really that smart. He articulates well after someone else has said or done something that proved to be smart. He supported NAFTA, he opposed deportation of illegal aliens. Newt was a hawk. Newt blows with the wind and is articulate at explaining in words what other people have figured out. Wait 2 or 3 weeks, you'll see evidence start pouring in about these illegal aliens and noncitizens voting in California and New York, Nevada, Oregon and Washington in huge numbers. Then, Newt will articulate how Trump was right but he still shouldn't have said it before the evidence was in.

Newt is articulate, not smart. Big difference, in my opinion.

IMHO, Trump is our future president and needs to rise above all the petty back and forth bickering. He won, time to move on to bigger and better things. Concentrating on keeping his promises would be an excellent place to start. Put the campaign behind you Trump, it's over, and you won.

I don't know if illegals voted in significant numbers or not, but if that's a concern, create an investigative task force once your in office. If the investigation proves it's true, then show your findings to the U.S. Congress and push for a national voter I.D. law. Making allegations that you don't have the power to prove right now is useless (IMO).

That's what they said about everything he said, MW. He proved them wrong every single time. That's why he going to be our new President, he's always out in front of the curve. He creates an issue to prove the issue. It's genius, really. It takes courage to do that.

I mean is there any ALIPACer here who doesn't believe that millions of illegal aliens and non-citizens voted in the 2016 US elections?

I mean isn't that like asking is there any ALIPACer here who believes there are only 11 million illegal aliens in the United States?

Isn't that like asking someone, do you believe with 94 million working age adults out of the work force, we only have 4.9% unemployment?

You call a spade a spade and the world proves it for you. That's called being ahead of the curve which is common sense, intuition, judgment, leadership.

I think Newt treats Twitter with far more respect than it deserves. Twitter might be a place you need to be civil, but it is not a place you need to be right.