Dennis Prager Show - Newt Gingrich: Do Repubs in Congress Understand the Danger of the Left?
Aired: 2020-06-30
Duration: 05:42


=== Why Courage Matters (04:58) ===

[00:00:00]  I have said for years, every Republican needs to run against the Democrats and the left at least as much as against his or her opponent.
[00:00:14]  They all individualize it.
[00:00:16]  Well, I'm a better candidate than Jones here.
[00:00:19]  Instead of saying, folks, if you vote Democrat, the left comes into power, the left wants to destroy this civilization.
[00:00:26]  Why don't they do that?
[00:00:30]  Well, I think, first of all, when you have the news media dominated to the degree it is today, it takes a lot of courage.
[00:00:41]  We underestimate how courageous Reagan was, and for that matter, how courageous Trump is.
[00:00:48]  It's easier to see in Trump's case because they hate him so deeply, and they're so vicious that it's just all over the place.
[00:00:55]  But Reagan had the same challenge.
[00:00:58]  They constantly wanted Reagan to be normal.
[00:01:00]  And he just pleasantly refused to.
[00:01:03]  And he kept saying the things he believed in.
[00:01:06]  And he changed history as a result.
[00:01:09]  I think we underestimate how relatively few people there are who can do that, which is frankly why I'm so deeply in favor of Trump.
[00:01:17]  I mean, for all of his weaknesses and all of his lack of professional, political, and governmental experience, he has the sheer, raw courage.
[00:01:27]  To stand up to the left and to slug it out.
[00:01:30]  And I think what he's been doing is remarkable.
[00:01:34]  And I see the beginnings of a younger generation of new Republicans coming along who are beginning to get it and who are beginning to understand that, in fact, that's the fight we have to have.
[00:01:46]  So I'm a little more encouraged by the rise of that next generation.
[00:01:51]  But the older generation, frankly, had been taught to accommodate.
[00:01:56]  You know, don't be unreasonable.
[00:02:01]  Don't challenge the natural patriotism of your enemies, even if they are actively trying to destroy the United States.
[00:02:08]  And I think working your way through that has been really extraordinary.
[00:02:14]  And frankly, had anybody but Trump been nominated in 16-1, we would probably have lost to Hillary.
[00:02:21]  But two, Even if they had won the election, they wouldn't have understood that this is a period where you've got to be prepared to profoundly take on the left and to accept the psychological cost of doing that.
[00:02:36]  Do you think the average member of Congress in the Republican Party understands the existential threat the left poses?
[00:02:45]  No.
[00:02:46]  No reason they shouldn't.
[00:02:47]  Wow.
[00:02:48]  There is a reason they should.
[00:02:50]  There is a reason.
[00:02:51]  I think more people are learning that.
[00:02:54]  And I think, frankly, as you look at the 1619 Project and you look at the radicalism of the New York Times and you look at Black Lives Matter and what their underlying platform is, I think it's beginning to sink in.
[00:03:10]  And I think the literal violence of tearing down statues and of looting stores.
[00:03:19]  It's beginning to sink in.
[00:03:21]  But, you know, in a free society, it's very hard to get people to draw conclusions that require as much conflict as you and I are talking about.
[00:03:33]  Lincoln understood this.
[00:03:34]  This is why, if you watch Lincoln in the first year of his presidency, he's very careful.
[00:03:40]  And, for example, he spends months waiting patiently until the South finally attacks Fort Sumter.
[00:03:48]  Because he knows that if he's too aggressive, he'll be seen as the aggressor.
[00:03:53]  If he's the aggressor, he's going to lose Kentucky and Maryland and Delaware.
[00:03:59]  And as he once said, he hoped God was on his side, but he had to have Kentucky.
[00:04:07]  So can you name, I'm putting you on the spot, can you name names of people who give you hope in the Republican Party?
[00:04:18]  I would say, in addition to Mike Pence and Donald Trump, I would say that Tom Cotton, who's recently done very well in a little fight with the New York Times, and I think Cotton won that round pretty decisively.
[00:04:33]  I think that you have a number of other people who are remarkable in their own right.
[00:04:42]  I think it's very easy to underestimate how much courage it takes.

=== African-American Leaders Under Fire (00:59) ===

[00:04:47]  To, in fact, be willing to live out your life, as the senator from South Carolina has, with all of the attacks he gets.
[00:04:58]  I mean, if you're an African-American who is willing to stand up and actually do things, and Tim Scott, I think, has shown great steadiness under fire, not backed off an inch, and actually is very much us philosophically.
[00:05:14]  So I would list him and that kind of group that I think are going to make a big difference.
[00:05:20]  Ron Johnson from Wisconsin certainly is in that league, understands how deep this fight is.
[00:05:26]  And I think, frankly, Trump did a good job of picking Mark Meadows because Meadows had always understood and helped create the Freedom Caucus out of his genuine belief.
[00:05:37]  And I would say that Meadows probably is giving a...