Republican former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has blasted Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) performance as Senate minority leader.
Gingrich remarked that McConnell is “as bad as” Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) when it comes to leading a party.
“I am totally with Kevin McCarthy and with Rick Scott, both of whom have come up with positive ideas,” said Gingrich, referring to the House minority leader and Florida GOP senator, respectively.
“McCarthy wants to develop a commitment to America.
“And he’s got, I think, seven different working groups.
“I was honored to be invited to come down to their planning session with about 180 House members.
“I was the keynote speaker and I got to listen to them working for a while.
“They’re so much more sophisticated than we were in ’94.
“It really makes me feel good to realize how much they’ve grown and learned.”
Gingrich said Scott has “had the guts” to tell his colleagues “you may not like all of my ideas, but at least I have ideas, what are yours?”
He said Mitch’s management style is, “Don’t tell anybody what you’re going to do, and then I’ll go into a room and I’ll make all the decisions.”
“I think, frankly, that’s as bad as Pelosi is,” he said.
He continued:
“The Biden, Harris, Schumer, Pelosi team is so bad,” he said.
“And remember, on the House side, the top three Democrats are so old collectively that if you add their years up, it’s 1777 before we had a Constitution.
“They’re literally a generation older than the House Republican leadership.
“It’s remarkable. They don’t have a clue what’s going on in the room.”
“That’s going to be the symbol of Pelosi’s dictatorship,” Gingrich said of Hawaii Democratic Rep. Kai Kahele who hasn’t been in DC in months.
“Just send me your proxy, I’ll vote it for you. You don’t have to.
“Well, that’s the opposite of representative government.
“The people of half of the state of Hawaii have been denied effective representation for the last year and a half.
“And that’s truly wrong if you’re an American.”
Gingrich clarified that he is “not against” McConnell remaining leader but he’s “against Mitch remaining leader if it’s going to be a secret closed leadership.”
“I think the Senate Republicans have to decide that, but I would hope [they] collectively are going to sit down and talk through.
“I mean, are they going to offer something positive for America, or are they going to just run negative?
“I think this is a very important moment of decision for the U.S. Senate, and I think it’s very important that they understand what Kevin McCarthy is doing and what Rick Scott’s doing.
“At a moment of turmoil and confusion and enormous pain, the American people deserve a Republican Senate and a Republican House that tells us before the election what they’re going to do, then actually does it so we can hold them accountable,” he said.
