Gingrich: “Trump Is the Candidate ‘Fox & Friends’ Invented”

 

Newt Gingrich had a friendly but biting exchange on “Fox & Friends” Monday morning. Host Steve Doocy asked him, “You talk to the GOP establishment, I mean, you’re part of it, for the most part. This is their nightmare scenario, what are they trying to do?” Co-host Brian Kilmeade added, “The billionaire is spending the least amount of money and running away with this thing.” That’s when Gingrich had enough:

“That’s because of you guys,” Gingrich said. “Donald Trump gets up in the morning, tweets to the entire planet at no cost, picks up the phone, calls you, has a great conversation for about eight minutes — which would have cost him a ton in commercial money. And meanwhile, his opponents are all out there trying to raise the money to run an ad … Look, you can say that Trump is the candidate ‘Fox & Friends’ invented. He was on your show more than any other show.”

“Every Monday,” Doocy agreed. “It was always a happy, positive conversation,” Gingrich continued. “Yep,” Doocy said.

Is Newt right that Trump is a media creation?

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  1. pensworth Inactive
    pensworth
    @pensworth

    Bkelley14:And yet Trump goes around saying Fox treats him “very badly.” What a phony. And yes, Steve Doocy et al have been slobbering over the Donald as their guest for a long time.

    I remember wondering way back in 2012 if Greta Van Susteren had a crush on Trump or something.

    • #31
  2. Saint Augustine Member
    Saint Augustine
    @SaintAugustine

    Man With the Axe:With all the reasons to oppose Trump on the issues, I oppose him mostly because he gives me every impression that he is a bad man: vindictive, bullying, self-absorbed, boastful, dishonest, insincere, and ignorant.

    I dig.  And I could add some more vices.

    Yet I don’t have any reason to think he’s a racist.  And it seems there are those in this world who will not be satisfied unless I bow to the narrative that Trump is a racist.

    Do they care that he’s a liar and unrepentant adulterer and bully and narcissist?  Hardly or not at all.  We could have confirmation on these and other vices, and some would still care only about the alleged racism.

    It’s a strange world we find ourselves in.

    • #32
  3. Tyler Boliver Inactive
    Tyler Boliver
    @Marlowe

    Trump is a media made phenomena there is no doubt of that. To the point where even Rush Limbaugh doesn’t dare to speak against him. It’s either that, or Rush believes his golf outings are more important then his ideology.

    As we saw today though with the MSNBC leak though, not only do people not challenge Trump, they coach him through the interview!

    • #33
  4. Tyler Boliver Inactive
    Tyler Boliver
    @Marlowe

    Saint Augustine:Yet I don’t have any reason to think he’s a racist. And it seems there are those in this world who will not be satisfied unless I bow to the narrative that Trump is a racist.

    I don’t believe Trump is racist either. I have dealt with racist, and even outright fascists supporters of his on social media though. This strong undercurrent of support from these kind of people is rather distressing.

    • #34
  5. E. Kent Golding Moderator
    E. Kent Golding
    @EKentGolding

    Finally I can empathize with those who hate FOX

    • #35
  6. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    Newt is right, I’ve been railing at Fox since Trump made his appearance.  Greta was the worst.  While Trump supporters may not understand the implications of what Trump says, Trump may not understand them, they are right in spirit.  Washington is the bi partisan problem and has been  for most of this century and these working class Americans seem to understand that more than the partially educated elite who think themselves superior.

    • #36
  7. Bkelley14 Inactive
    Bkelley14
    @Bkelley14

    Fox and Friends (constantly, as Newt said) Greta, O’Reilly, Hannity — they’ve all served up endless interviews with their Donald. I’ve lost all respect for the station.

    • #37
  8. Derek Simmons Member
    Derek Simmons
    @

    Ricochet Editor's Desk: Is Newt right that Trump is a media creation?

    He’s right to this extent: the whole STUPID campaign process is a media creation. Fat white cigar-smoking whiskey-swilling men in backroom dealings couldn’t result in a worse field. AND we wouldn’t have to watch. Or have our landlines ring.

    • #38
  9. She Member
    She
    @She

    Percival:Win or lose, when this campaign is over, Donald Trump is going to require hospitalization to have Sean Hannity surgically removed.

    So true.

    I was unfortunate enough to have Hannity on in the car yesterday.  Don’t ask.

    Gingrich was on.  He was telling a rather different story to the Fox and Friends one.

    Basically, he was saying that Trump is the front runner, and if not quite inevitable, then he will probably be the nominee.  No mention (on the part I heard, anyway), about how the media (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) had helped create him.

    Then Gingrich said that it’s a problem that Trump just opens his mouth and whatever is on his mind just falls out.  Gingrich said he shouldn’t do that.

    Gingrich said that someone needs to take Trump aside and explain that he is now in the big time, on the world stage, and that Presidents of the US can’t just open their mouths and let whatever passes for thought at the time, sometimes including insults and profanity, spew forth.

    He said that someone needs to tell Trump that it is OK to say, “I don’t have all the details on that matter.  Let me consider it and get back to you.”  That someone needs to tell Trump that what he says is being followed by millions of people, every second of the day.  That someone needs to explain to Trump that people will hang on his every word, and make decisions based on what Trump says and does.  And that Trump needs to moderate himself based on those inevitabilities, and lay off the unconsidered remarks, the vulgarities and the profanity.

    I had two immediate reactions:

    1.  Good luck with all of that.  Trump knows that his unscripted outrageousness is what gets him the media and public attention that has carried him this far, and he doesn’t really care about what comes next.  That is why he talks about how he can ‘change into anything he want to,’ tones things down for a day or two, and then starts tweeting about whether or not Marco Rubio is eligible to run for President, and starts threatening the Ricketts family in Chicago with dire consequences for spending their money to oppose him.  Good luck getting him to understand the concept of circumspection.
    2. If we have reached a point where this sort of thing passes for sage and considered political advice from a leading establishment figure to a serious presidential candidate, then we are in deeper trouble than I thought.

    *

    It’s hip to criticize Marco Rubio for his lack of political experience.  I don’t hear a lot of people criticizing his manners, though.

    Most people assume (and I think they’re entitled to), that if you’re running for President, you’ve already been house trained.

    Good luck with your little project, Newt.  You can have all my old copies of the New York Times to work with.

    • #39
  10. thelonious Member
    thelonious
    @thelonious

    Trump is the New York Yankees.  When they’re great they’re a story.  When they’re dysfunctional or do or say crazy things they’re even more of a story.  No matter what Trump or the Yankees do they’ll always be on the front page.

    • #40
  11. Mark Coolidge
    Mark
    @GumbyMark

    St. Salieri:

    Kate Braestrup:This was to be the first election year of my life … in which I’d vote for a Republican. Am I really supposed to contemplate voting for someone who is less conservative than I am?

    I come from the class that has embraced Trump (in most ways), and I understand their problems, and I sympathize with them. I’ve also been a political conservative since I was 15. From the ages of 15 to 33 I was heavily involved in politics and did my bit for the GOP at the grunt level; served on county committee, helped with campaigns, volunteered money and time, drove candidates door to door, college republican, the whole nine yards, but since 2004 I’ve been increasingly disgusted.

    Went to Tea Party meetings

    Yet for all that, I pulled the lever for McCain and Romney, didn’t like either one of them – did it out of a sense of duty to the Republic in the face of worse options, and hoping that the signal sent in the mid-terms would sink in, it didn’t.

    Yet, I can’t square the circle on Trump. I don’t know how supporting him solves anything, it only makes it all worse, without offering more freedom, more prosperity, or smaller government.

    Well said.  I can’t figure out why, when I’m so disgusted with the GOP congressional leadership, I would vote for someone likely to be worse than they are.

    • #41
  12. Sheila S. Inactive
    Sheila S.
    @SheilaS

    I have noticed that the liberal press gives him as much coverage as the conservative press. I think it would suit the Dems just fine to have Trump as the GOP nominee. They are gleefully displaying him as the poster boy for every negative stereotype they’ve ever promulgated about conservatives. It is distressing to me that so many disaffected Republicans are assisting with this. Because in my opinion, if the Republican party is destroyed, it won’t be replaced by something better. It will just be gone.

    • #42
  13. Derek Simmons Member
    Derek Simmons
    @

    Sheila S.: It is distressing to me that so many disaffected Republicans are assisting with this. Because in my opinion, if the Republican party is destroyed, it won’t be replaced by something better. It will just be gone.

    Count me among the disaffected ‘assisters’. And what if it is “just gone”?

    We now have only one-party rule anyway. We have the National Statist Party. Gone is any sense of federalism. Gone is any sense that states are laboratories of democracy. Gone is any sense that the U.S. Constitution has significant and guiding power. Gone is any sense that The Founders were wiser than we are.

    The NSP has a left wing aka Democrat Party and the right wing aka the Republican Party. And every election is a squabble over who gets the Prime Rib and who gets the ground round. We all know who the dogs are that get the scraps. And pick up the tab.

    Be Gone!

    • #43
  14. Songwriter Inactive
    Songwriter
    @user_19450

    Man With the Axe:With all the reasons to oppose Trump on the issues, I oppose him mostly because he gives me every impression that he is a bad man: vindictive, bullying, self-absorbed, boastful, dishonest, insincere, and ignorant.

    Exactly. And what is weird (or is it terrifying?) is that you also pretty well describe the likely nominee of the Democratic Party.

    • #44
  15. She Member
    She
    @She

    Derek Simmons:

    Sheila S.: It is distressing to me that so many disaffected Republicans are assisting with this. Because in my opinion, if the Republican party is destroyed, it won’t be replaced by something better. It will just be gone.

    Count me among the disaffected ‘assisters’. And what if it is “just gone”?

    We now have only one-party rule anyway. We have the National Statist Party. Gone is any sense of federalism. Gone is any sense that states are laboratories of democracy. Gone is any sense that the U.S. Constitution has significant and guiding power. Gone is any sense that The Founders were wiser than we are.

    The NSP has a left wing aka Democrat Party and the right wing aka the Republican Party. And every election is a squabble over who gets the Prime Rib and who gets the ground round. We all know who the dogs are that get the scraps. And pick up the tab.

    Be Gone!

    And then what?  What are you going to replace it with?

    We have seen, in more places than we can count, the effect of overthrowing, tearing up, chucking out, what-have-you, the established order of things in favor of a ‘Spring,’ or a ‘Green,’ or a ‘Cultural,’ what-have-you, Revolution.

    Sometimes, it’s a good idea to be careful what you wish for, especially when you’re not sure what’s going to flood into the vacuum you wish to create.  Better have a really clear idea what’s going to happen after you win, first.

    • #45
  16. Polyphemus Inactive
    Polyphemus
    @Polyphemus

    Derek Simmons:

    Sheila S.: It is distressing to me that so many disaffected Republicans are assisting with this. Because in my opinion, if the Republican party is destroyed, it won’t be replaced by something better. It will just be gone.

    Count me among the disaffected ‘assisters’. And what if it is “just gone”?

    We now have only one-party rule anyway. We have the National Statist Party. Gone is any sense of federalism. Gone is any sense that states are laboratories of democracy. Gone is any sense that the U.S. Constitution has significant and guiding power. Gone is any sense that The Founders were wiser than we are.

    The NSP has a left wing aka Democrat Party and the right wing aka the Republican Party. And every election is a squabble over who gets the Prime Rib and who gets the ground round. We all know who the dogs are that get the scraps. And pick up the tab.

    Be Gone!

    Wow does this sadden (and madden) me. When I think about how superior the choices in this primary were to the past 6 cycles (back to 1984 really), I find it cruelly ironic that now is when we get this rageful despair bubbling up.  People like you who are given over to this desperate urge to burn the whole thing down thinking it can’t be any worse.  Remember, it can ALWAYS get worse. What makes you ignore all these red flags in Trump?

    • #46
  17. Sheila S. Inactive
    Sheila S.
    @SheilaS

    Derek Simmons:

    Sheila S.: It is distressing to me that so many disaffected Republicans are assisting with this. Because in my opinion, if the Republican party is destroyed, it won’t be replaced by something better. It will just be gone.

    Count me among the disaffected ‘assisters’. And what if it is “just gone”?

    We now have only one-party rule anyway. We have the National Statist Party. Gone is any sense of federalism. Gone is any sense that states are laboratories of democracy. Gone is any sense that the U.S. Constitution has significant and guiding power. Gone is any sense that The Founders were wiser than we are.

    The NSP has a left wing aka Democrat Party and the right wing aka the Republican Party. And every election is a squabble over who gets the Prime Rib and who gets the ground round. We all know who the dogs are that get the scraps. And pick up the tab.

    Be Gone!

    I don’t completely disagree with you about there being a left and right wing of the same party, but if you destroy the power of the right wing of that party, you’re hastening the decline and fall of the United States as we know it.

    Chances are slim to none that things can actually be turned around, but we can delay it, possibly for a few more generations, and a lot can happen during that time.

    • #47
  18. livingthehighlife Inactive
    livingthehighlife
    @livingthehighlife

    Derek Simmons:Count me among the disaffected ‘assisters’. And what if it is “just gone”?

    We now have only one-party rule anyway. We have the National Statist Party. Gone is any sense of federalism. Gone is any sense that states are laboratories of democracy. Gone is any sense that the U.S. Constitution has significant and guiding power. Gone is any sense that The Founders were wiser than we are.

    The NSP has a left wing aka Democrat Party and the right wing aka the Republican Party. And every election is a squabble over who gets the Prime Rib and who gets the ground round. We all know who the dogs are that get the scraps. And pick up the tab.

    Be Gone!

    Because quitting solves everything.

    • #48
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