In Newt Gingrich’s revealing new book, Understanding Trump, the long-time ally and Washington insider hits the White House press corps as deserving of the biggest dunce cap for blowing it when trying to figure out President Trump.
The former House speaker rips reporters as liberal “propagandists” and much worse: lazy, inexperienced, out of touch and smug.
“These people are voyeurs. They don’t do anything,” he writes in a chapter that cites CNN, MSNBC, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Nate Silver and Time.
“In the White House press corps,” he writes, “you might have somebody representing the New York Times or Time magazine who has covered the White House for maybe five years and is therefore empowered to render judgment on the president. The first thing to realize is: This person couldn’t be the president if his or her life depended on it. This person has no clue about how difficult and complex it is to be the president.”
And, he scoffs, they get away with it again and again.
“We are seeing the same elite propagandists who were wrong about the primary, wrong about the election and wrong about the president’s Cabinet picks trying to paint Trump’s presidency as chaotic. Think about this: if a sports analyst consistently misreported games he or she observed, he or she would not be a sports analyst anymore. Yet news reporters face no consequences for consistently misreporting politics,” he adds.
That leads him to a warning for the White House. “This kind of propaganda is what Trump is going to have to face every day of his presidency.”
Trump should skip beltway media, change press conferences, argue @newtginrich and @christianwhiton https://t.co/hJMrANMmps
— National Interest (@TheNatlInterest) May 25, 2017
His book is set for release June 13 and is already a “best seller” on Amazon where it can be preordered. The website reports that Understanding Trump is No. 1 in three categories.
Gingrich provides glimpses of his close relationship with the president in his book, which includes a foreword by Trump’s son, Eric Trump. He was an early adviser and continues as an outspoken surrogate. He describes an early January 2015 meeting when Trump asked for the “bottom line” on the price of running for president.
Gingrich, who ran in 2012, said that to be competitive, $70 million to $80 million would be needed. Said the billionaire: “That would be a yacht. This would be a lot more fun than a yacht!”
In the book, he gives credit to Trump for being able to break the mold on presidential action, shift positions quickly and speak bluntly.
He also points out the unsung stars of the Trump campaign and White House, notably domestic policy chief Stephen Miller, who had a knack for writing up speeches on the fly. “Understanding Trump requires understanding the principles by which he could shift so quickly from topic to topic,” Gingrich writes.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
