Newt Gingrich joined Sean Hannity to discuss his recent column at Gingrich360, “President-Elect Trump: The De Facto President.”
“However, it never occurred to me, he writes, ” that President Trump’s fame, energy, and drive – and President Joe Biden’s collapse – would lead to a totally new model. The actuality is that President Trump has become the de facto President. De facto in Latin means ‘in reality or as a matter of fact.’
Sean Hannity: In his latest, Gingrich 360 column. He joins us now. Sir, how are you?
Newt Gingrich: I’m doing great. I want to say, by the way, I’ve worked with Pete Hegseth a lot over the last 5 or 10 years, and he’s a bright, competent, courageous guy, and I thought he did very well just now. My hunch is he’s going to be Secretary of Defense.
Sean Hannity: My hunch is he will as well. But the left will do what they do. They will treat him like they did Clarence Thomas, Justice Kavanaugh. It just never ends. But it’s predictable at this point. I hope Republican senators see through that.
Why would Joe Biden, at this late hour, be giving hundreds of millions more dollars to Ukraine Ukraine. Why would he be granting them permission to fire ballistic missiles into Russia, causing Vladimir Putin now to change their nuclear policy? Why would he be doing that? Why would he be firing right after Asaad has deposed? Why is he firing into Syria?
Newt Gingrich: Look, I think you have to start with the idea that Joe Biden is probably, personally, not doing any of that. I mean, everything we’ve seen, including his recent trip to Angola, he’s just cognitively incapable of having done this.
You have to assume he has some nutcake left-wing staffers. They’re doing dangerous things.
As you know, I just wrote at Gingras 360, we have for the first time in American history, a de facto President. We’ve never seen like this.
When President Trump went to Paris for Notre Dame to see the opening of Notre Dame after its disastrous fire, he was treated by President Macron as though he were the President. He got the full experience of the French greeting you in a way which is really historic.
No President who hasn’t been sworn in yet has ever had the experience. He had some 82 leaders from around the world were there for the opening of Notre Dame.
He had a great meeting with the President of Ukraine, a great meeting with the Prime Minister of Italy. I think what we’re seeing is somebody who is President de facto, that is in fact, but not yet President de Jure.
That means in law. He won’t get to be President de Jure till January 20th, but he’s already, for all practical purposes, the center of the governing system of the American people.
It’s, I think, a remarkable achievement.
Sean Hannity: Isn’t it really rooted in this that there is a fear, a healthy fear, a healthy respect for Donald Trump, and that he’s strong and he’s tough, and without even taking the oath of office, he has almost single-handedly, his election has reestablished America as the world’s leader.
Newt Gingrich: Look, if you’re a relatively sophisticated leader, around the world. You watch nine years of the rise of Donald Trump, and you watch two impeachments, and you watch all of these efforts to catch him in the law, and you watch two assassination attempts, and the guy just keeps coming.
As I said the other day, this is a mythic figure, almost like the various Scandinavian Beowulf and other sagas. There’s no practical way that you can explain Trump within a normal political structure. He now represents clearly something like, according to the latest Rasmussen poll, 55% of the American people believe that he has, in fact, got a clear mandate. Only 32% don’t agree.
He’s beginning to build almost a two to one margin that this is the leader of the American nation. If you’re the rest of the world, and you’re real, people forget. We are an enormous country, 345 million people. We are the third largest country geographically in the world. We have enormous power, clearly still, despite every screw-up with the Pentagon. We are the most powerful nation in the world.
And this is the guy who’s now coming back, and they all respect it, and they are, frankly, I think, stunned by it.
Watch:
You can read his full column here.
