So Newton Leroy Gingrich appeared on Face the Nation this morning, and was asked to respond to a National Review article by Ian Tuttle. Tuttle writes:
Trump's "victory in the primaries gave unprecedented visibility to the alt-Right, a small but vocal fringe of white supremacists and anti-Semites and self-proclaimed fascists...supporting a President Trump cannot mean giving a pass to the ugly fringe that has risen with him."
Newt called that "garbage." Check out his definition of Donald Trump:
"Donald Trump is a mainstream conservative who wants to profoundly take on the Left. The Left is infuriated that anybody would challenge the legitimacy of their moral superiority. and so the Left is hysterical. But the fact is... you get this with Steve Bannon. He's a naval officer, a Hollywood movie producer, a manager at Goldman Sachs. The idea that somehow he represents... I never heard about the alt right until this nut case started writing about them."
The thing is, Face the Nation host John Dickerson left out of the conversation the name-checking that Ian Tuttle did about the alt-Right and Trump. Here's the rest: (yes link goes to National Review be warned)
Trump both fomented, and benefited from, a media clique that indulged those opinions and promoted those reflexes. InfoWars and Gateway Pundit became the ready dispensaries of conspiratorial propaganda. Twitter personalities such as Bill Mitchell were happy to peddle fictions, if they boosted the prospects of a Trump victory, while Mike Cernovich and others marshalled online shock troops against the “disloyal.” Breitbart.com revealed the extent to which it is animated by out-and-out anti-Semitism.
And if you think I'm linking to any of those bozos, you're crazy. I do recommend checking out the Crooks and Liars archives on anti-Semitism however. It's not just "sheriff's stars" on online Trump ads. It's bad. And it's real.
I don't mind a bit if Gingrich succeeds in convincing the public that Trump is just a run of the mill Republican conservative, though. Because he is. That anti-Semitism, white supremacy, and xenophobia have been welcomed at the GOP table since at least 1964. The Birchers are now the Breitbart-ers. And the more that ugliness is exposed AND embraced by this administration, the faster we can sweep it into the dustbin of history, the end.
PS Bernie Sanders isn't buying Gingrich's "argument" either. Sanders too appeared on Meet the Press today and the "pffft" he uttered at the mention of Newt Gingrich's name is worth the click:
"Pfffuw! I'm afraid Mr. Gingrich, is wrong."
