Newt Gingrich | Fox News Channel's America's Newsroom | March 15 2023

NEWT:

I think it matters a lot because I think voters have an instinct the commander-in-chief is central. Historically, go back to John F. Kennedy, who as a young man, had to prove to voters that you could trust him being president. I think it's a big deal. There is very fundamental argument underway. And it’s really two parts. One part is having lost a 20-year war in Afghanistan, how much do we want to run around the planet not exactly knowing what we're doing and not getting anything done, but losing lives and spending money. And the other part is as long as Joe Biden is president, why would you trust anything. They are not protecting the American border; I argue southern border is far more important to the United States than Ukraine. I have no faith in Biden, whose family has been corrupted by China when it comes to our biggest competitor, which is China and now you come to Ukraine. You have a Defense department which lost 82 billion in equipment to the Taliban, a defense department more worried about being woke than being effective. And I think that really undermines the willingness of many Republicans to give them a blank check. Speaker McCarthy’s line is right they shouldn't get a blank check. I personally believe defeating Putin matters and I also think the current administration has no strategy they have no ability to defeat Putin and free societies don't fight long wars well. People get tired of it; they don't understand where it is going and you are seeing a real erosion largely because Joe Biden is so incompetent.

NEWT:

That is where President Trump was making a difference. Because he had browbeaten NATO into actually increasing their investment by $400 billion when people thought it wasn't possible. I suspect had he been president, we would have intervened very fast, very decisively, and we would have demanded that the Germans and others do their fair share. It is ridiculous to say that the United States, we are creating a welfare state in Ukraine because Biden's people can't help themselves. It’s one thing to say I am going to send you tanks. Which they didn’t do for a long time. It’s another thing to say by the way, here are checks to make you feel good while you are being bombed. This administration is stunningly incompetent and that has real-world effects.

NEWT:

My first question is how many times will she laugh? My second question is maybe each Republican congressman in Iowa should invite her to come and have a town hall in their district. I think the more people in Iowa get to meet Kamala Harris, I think the more people to meet Kamala Harris the less likely they are to vote for her, so I think it is good for us. I mean the Democrats have this terrible bind, I mean if Biden ends up running for reelection and if he does get renominated is he really going to have her as his vice presidential nominee? If you go you and look at the country, she has a remarkably small base of support and the more people see of it I think the smaller her support gets.

NEWT:

I think they want to do a rose garden strategy; they are replacing the basement in Delaware with the rose garden in the white house and I think they would like him to remain president as long as possible and not be a candidate. Which is not irrational, he's done a good job and you know this from your white house experience, presidents have huge reach inside their own party, and they can bring advantages and disadvantages to their friends and their opponents.