Newt Gingrich on speaker vote: Republicans are being “literally as self-destructive as I have ever seen a political party be”
Fox News contributor Gingrich on the GOP House members opposing Speaker Johnson: They're being “insanely destructive,” with a “stunningly stupid, suicidal strategy”
Published
Citation
From the January 3, 2025, edition of Fox News' America Reports
NEWT GINGRICH (Fox News Contributor): Look, I use this language very deliberately. These people are insanely destructive.
What is round 2 going to be? You have one guy gets 186 votes right now, another guy gets three — actually three people get one each. So what's round 2 going to be like? The same three guys are going to hold out and they are going to hold out forever? I mean it's certainly their constitutional right, they are independently elected, but let's be clear, this is a stunningly stupid, suicidal strategy, which only weakens the Republican party, weakens President Trump, makes it harder to fix America, and I don't know what, these guys, they need psychologists.
I mean I don't know what they think they are accomplishing in the real world except to make a spectacle out of this thing. Now I hope that at least two of them will switch. I think Massie is probably utterly, totally hopeless. He is sufficiently certain of his moral rights and his brilliant insights. I don't think he will move under any circumstance.
But I would hope the other two realize they are going to look like idiots. It is not going to change. The party is not going to go oh, gee, 214 of us were right — 215 of us were right, but you three, you have convinced us on the second ballot, let's do something else. That this is — I have been at this business, as you know, a long time. Really, literally, as self-destructive as I have ever seen a political party be, and it is down to a handful of people. Everyone else is trying to get it to work. Everyone. Moderate, conservative, freedom caucus, you name it — they are all trying to get it to work except for a very tiny handful.