Former House Speaker and Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is dismissing the intense criticism Donald Trump gets from conservative commentators and journalists as a simple case of occupational burnout.
“I think a number of them need to go on vacation,” Gingrich said in a new interview with Slate, referring to some conservatives in the news media, including Charles Krauthammer and George Will.
“I think the tension is getting to them of having to deal with something that they don’t understand and don’t believe in,” he said. “It horrifies them. It represents an alternative world they never dreamed of.”
The conservative media is largely divided in the level of enthusiasm for Trump. Some radio hosts and writers welcome the billionaire reality TV star as a needed disruptor, and others dismiss him as an unserious candidate for the GOP nomination, unfit for the White House.
Gingrich defended his support for Trump. “You are talking about a guy who was smart enough to build Trump Towers, build lots of hotels, build lots of casinos, and own the Miss Universe contest,” he said. “He is not stupid. For many people, that seems to be inconceivable because they have a university Ph.D. theory of being smart.”
