TRUMP’S TRIUMPH

A blend of sycophancy, self-promotion, and calumny in praise of Donald Trump.

How much does former House Speaker Gingrich worship Trump? One can only wonder what his heart holds, but in this paean layered with Gingrichian policy recommendations, he borrows a page from the president by slinging insults right and left (well, mostly left, but Liz Cheney takes a shellacking, too): “It was clear that [Kamala] Harris did not know much, did not study, and was just plain lazy.” Moreover, casting doubt on the quality of the electorate, he insists that had Harris been elected, it would signal the end of the American belief in merit and hard work. Setting aside his idol’s penchant for short days and abundant golf outings, Gingrich does hit on a point or two, including the fact that the Founders “knew the tendency was for free societies to quickly degenerate into a dictatorship.” Gingrich’s bloviations are built on enough straw-man arguments to fill a barn the size of the Mall of America (a venue, he complains, that Tim Walz allowed to remain open during the Covid-19 pandemic while closing churches): Liberals are unpatriotic. Liberals want “illegal immigrants” to be allowed to vote. Jimmy Carter (who served in uniform) had “contempt for the military,” while Ronald Reagan championed it. Harris didn’t pick Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro as her running mate because “he is Jewish and vocal elements of the Democratic Party are increasingly pro-Palestinian and antisemitic.” And so on. Against this, Gingrich is all in on the Trump agenda, parroting each of its talking points—he mentions Jan. 6, 2021, for instance, only twice directly, and then only to malign “the kangaroo court January 6 Committee led by Cheney.”

Toeing the MAGA party line.