Newt Gingrich: ‘Blown Away’ by ‘Unifying’ Trump Speech to Congress
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said he was “blown away” by President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress.
He called the speech better than Trump’s inaugural address and better than his notable campaign speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Democrats were “startled” by Trump’s speech, Gingrich said, in that the president “went on in many ways to unify us.”
“He began to build momentum all evening of more and more Democrats getting up [to applaud],” Gingrich said.
Gingrich said he is confident, despite party-line divisions in Congress, that he will split Democratic opposition on agenda items like infrastructure.
He added that Trump’s infrastructure agenda will likely follow his “Wollman Skating Rink Model.”
Gingrich was referencing how then-businessman Trump took over an effectively stalled city project in New York’s Central Park from Mayor Edward I. Koch (D-N.Y.), and completed it on his own under-budget and ahead of schedule.
In that way, Gingrich called Trump “the first pure entrepreneur we’ve ever had as a president.”