Really Good Newt Interview

A taste:

SPIEGEL: Let's talk about Russia again: The American intelligence agencies made a clear assessment about Russian disruptions in the U.S. election campaign. Can Washington tolerate this kind of behavior?

Gingrich: Well, as you know, Obama was even eavesdropping on your chancellor. You know, countries often do such things. I know of nothing the Russians did which had any effect on the American election.

SPIEGEL: The Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain have a totally different view on the information and have called for a strong American reaction.

Gingrich: I'm a little tired of people who have very big moral positions and very small power in reality. I think the cost for taking on the Russians would be very high. I just want to know how they're going to do it. I don't see that we would do more than make noise. I think Putin has already gotten used to the idea of Obama and his secretary of state, John Kerry, making noise -- it just doesn't seem to impress Moscow at all.

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SPIEGEL Interview with Newt Gingrich: What To Expect from a President Trump - SPIEGEL ONLINE

SPIEGEL: You worked very close with Donald Trump during the campaign. Did he change personally in all those months?

Gingrich: He learned a lot. He's more sobered by the responsibilities. I think that he's more aware of how big the challenge is going to be. I think he's learned a lot about the world. He's talked now, I think, to at least 75 foreign leaders, and I think that he's very concerned about finding the right way to be effective in a responsible way. And he wants to be effective.

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I have a LOT of problems with Newt but he does understand this game and he does understand Trump, he is a great person to listen to these days. I dont remember him being this direct and to the point in the old days, I think in many ways he has improved with age. I think he has the opportunity to give to his nation now at the very end of his career much more than he has up till now, an opportunity to atone for his poor leadership of the House.

I think that Gingrich is much more incisive and detached now that he's hung his hat up politically. It the Honeybadger effect: he just DGAF how his opinions will be taken by the public. There's little to no finger on the public pulse behind his input, and it shows.

Great interview.

Atosaras said:

I think that Gingrich is much more incisive and detached now that he's hung his hat up politically. It the Honeybadger effect: he just DGAF.

Great interview.

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It is like he was a partisan hack before, but now finally he wants to be a public servant, he wants to serve all of the nation, even as he stays out of government.

20 years late at least, but late is better than never.

Newt always has a unique insight that others lack, or just can't master. His comment about the bureaucrats was dead on.

Hawkeye10 said:

It is like he was a partisan hack before, but now finally he wants to be a public servant, he wants to serve all of the nation, even as he stays out of government.

20 years late at least, but late is better than never.

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I think that's where the slimy aspect of his personality came from. People do have an intuition for this, and a lot of people didn't trust him because he was a bad actor; he couldn't convincingly ape the positions which political expedience demanded that he hold (and oftentimes he was wrong about what those positions were). Part of the genius of Trump as a politician is that he is both a skilled actor and he knew exactly which ideological positions to hit. I think that his background in television helped in that regard; it's interesting how many political figures, from Theodora to Reagan, had some background or training in theater.

Atosaras said:

I think that's where the slimy aspect of his personality came from. People do have an intuition for this, and a lot of people didn't trust him because he was a bad actor; he couldn't convincingly ape the positions which political expedience demanded that he hold (and oftentimes he was wrong about what those positions were). Part of the genius of Trump as a politician is that he is both a skilled actor and he knew exactly which ideological positions to hit. I think that his background in television helped in that regard; it's interesting how many political figures, from Theodora to Reagan, had some background or training in theater.

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I was just a week ago reading an argument that Trump used the Apprentice as a political laboratory, and while I am not completely sold I am most of the way there. There has always been this trial and error game with Trump, he just loves to find that gem in the discard pile that everyone else could not see because of the ideas that were floating around their heads. Trump is a reality based guy, the only thing he cares about is what works and what does not work, and his massive ego loves to know that he knows what others do not. Trump spends a lot of his life learning to do things that others cant, like for instance picking a nobody for a big job, picking the right nobody. Using a reality TV show to perfect the high art of politics, to learn to see the America that others ether dont see or pretend to not see, and then leading a rebellion all the way to the White House is just ****ing crazy.....But I think this is what Trump might have done. The legend of Trump might surpass even the legend of Reagan in durability, the potential is sure there.

Newt for most of his adult life put Party above Nation, which so many do it is true, but they get the stink eye from me. Newt is a better American now.