Donald Trump has "both the largest upside and the largest downside of any candidate," former House Speaker and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said Friday, and if his campaign "goes sour, it will be a real disaster."
But if it doesn't, and he takes that "personal energy and drive," Trump "will walk around the Oval Office. He will be pacing constantly," he joked with the
Fox News "Outnumbered" panel.
At the same time, Gingrich said, "I don't know anybody else on the Republican side would have the nerve to go into the south side of Chicago and say, 'your children shouldn't be getting killed, your young children should get education and ought to get job in the neighborhood.'"
And as far as polls go, "I try to remind people I was active with Reagan when he was 25 points behind Jimmy Carter in the spring of 1980," Gingrich said. "I helped George H.W. Bush when he was 19 points behind (Michael) Dukakis in May."
Meanwhile, when it comes to Trump's current complaints about the Colorado election process and other matters, Gingrich pointed out that when he's dealing with a winner, he's inclined to "give them the benefit of the doubt."
"He has literally been the front-runner since June 16," said Gingrich. "He has done it more cheaply than anybody in history. Gets more earned media by just being interesting. It is worth studying him and thinking about what's he doing? He started out with total of 17 candidates, 16 others. And his technique of brutalizing people and being petty worked. I mean you can like it or dislike it but it worked. Now he is in a different game."
Meanwhile, Trump does talk about big issues, and he's right on some of them, said Gingrich, and it's healthy to argue about serious topics such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.
And overall, the candidates are "all smart," said Gingrich. "[Bernie] Sanders is kind of whack. As much as I dislike Hillary, Hillary is very smart and very hard-working and very knowledgeable. [Ted] Cruz is brilliant and Trump is a phenomenon."
As for Ohio Gov. John Kasich?
"I think Kasich is a tremendous person," said Gingrich. "I didn't list him because I think his best future is as vice president."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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