John Matthews
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) Newt Gingrich has been there before.
The former Speaker of the House – who has become a Donald Trump supporter – has a definite opinion on the stance taken by current Speaker Paul Ryan as it pertains to the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee for President.
“I think he made a mistake yesterday,” said Gingrich in an interview Friday on WMAL’s Mornings On The Mall, speaking of Ryan’s reluctance to back Donald Trump.
“[Ryan] can sit down and negotiate very toughly with the nominee on specific issues. That is why the constitution has a division of powers, and I encourage that kind of tough-minded negotiation. But it has to be done in a framework that we’re all Republicans. We’re all on the same side,” said Gingrich.
Gingrich suspects that part of the reason Ryan has not jumped on board the Trump bandwagon lies in the timing of Trump’s sudden coronation as the presumptive GOP nominee. The former Speaker had expected the primary season to last for another month, with Ted Cruz staying in the race through the June 7th California primary.
“[Cruz] basically took a month of ‘getting used to each other’ out of the system, so instead of having a month to sort of ‘keep dating’ if you will, and getting to know each other better, all of a sudden – BOOM – Donald Trump is the nominee, and I think that’s part of the shock you’re seeing,” Gingrich told WMAL.
Gingrich says it’s part of Ryan’s job as Speaker to be a peacemaker within the Republican party, and there are other means to exert his influence than through public discourse.
“The Speaker of the House has a lot of tools,” said Gingrich. He can defend whatever position he believes in by the power of whether or not he even brings it to the floor. So he has enormous leverage over the President of the United States if he wants to use it.”
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