Cases of coronavirus will likely flatten out faster in the United States than they did in Italy because of aggressive actions and because "we have a much more robust health system," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has been in Italy for several weeks, said Monday.
"Remember, this started in part in Italy because there are about 100,000 Chinese who work in northern Italy," Gingrich told Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "They kept open the flights to Wuhan, three flights a week, for several weeks after it was clear that there was an epidemic, the opposite of what President Trump did in closing off the flights to China."
As a result, all of Italy has been locked down, and is "gradually starting to win," said Gingrich, who is in Italy with wife Callista, the ambassador to the Holy See.
"The United States has announced significant aid packages, really, and I think that's the right thing to do," said Gingrich. "This is a relatively weak economy which has now been shattered and it is going to take a good while for them to recover."
Gingrich on Monday also discussed his recent opinion piece comparing President Donald Trump to late President Teddy Roosevelt, saying they share an "entrepreneurial style."
"Entrepreneurial personalities don't fit the political science model of the presidency," said Gingrich. So there's a lot we can learn, do what works. Don't assume automatically that the so-called experts are right."
"The downside is sometimes he can make a mistake," he added. "That's the nature whether it was Theodore Roosevelt or Donald Trump, it's the nature of entrepreneurial personalities, but he's going to get off the floor and try the next thing."
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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