Gingrich warns GOP there is ‘no middle ground’: Surrender or fight in the cultural civil war

by WorldTribune Staff, May 23, 2017

America is embroiled in a “one-sided cultural civil war” in which “the Left has picked the battlefield and defined the terms of engagement,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

“If conservatives respond to this aggressive, sometimes violent hostility from the Left with confusion, uncertainty, and appeasement, we are guaranteed to lose the struggle to drain the swamp and reform Washington,” Gingrich wrote in a May 18 op-ed for Fox News, concluding that “there is no middle ground.”

Newt Gingrich: “Sadly, our own nation’s news media is doing more to undermine America’s image than Al Jazeera or Pravda combined.”

“I have been overseas for the last three days, and it has been sickening to see so many foreigners terrified because they unknowingly believe the news media’s false reports and vicious attacks. The only version of President Donald Trump they know is the one portrayed in the 24-hour cesspool of CNN and the daily acrimony of the New York Times. Sadly, our own nation’s news media is doing more to undermine America’s image than Al Jazeera or Pravda combined.”

Gingrich said that “the Left’s dance of destruction is stunningly choreographed.

“The endless hostility of the Left, exemplified by violent fascists on college campuses, thugs in the streets, determined disrupters at town hall meetings, and the dishonest elite media are all part of their efforts to defeat the reforms and changes that President Trump was elected to implement.

“The constant, anonymous leaks from disgruntled federal bureaucrats aim to provide ammunition for the propaganda news media to press the attack.”

Conservatives can take up the fight in the 2018 midterm elections, where “Senate Republicans are well-positioned because there are 10 Democratic senators up for re-election in states President Trump won last November,” Gingrich wrote.

“These Democrats should be made to carry the burden of the collapsing ObamaCare system and the pain it is causing in their states. They should be made to own every strand of expensive red tape they vote to keep and every Homeland Security measure they oppose. They should be held accountable for every crime in their states committed by criminal aliens protected by sanctuary city laws.

“If Senate Republicans implement an all-out campaign, they could pick up all 10 seats and have the largest GOP majority since the election of 1868.”

House Republicans will have a more difficult challenge, Gingirch said.

“Political polarization, compounded by a number of incumbents retiring, make it harder for them to expand their majority. Defeating the Left’s attacks will require House Republicans to engage in significantly more training and planning than they are used to. Most House Republicans have spent their congressional careers in a safe majority. Very few lived through the disaster of 2006, and only a handful of current members were in the so-called permanent minority before 1994.”

Gingrich continued: “This House GOP has never faced an all-out political war like this. House Republicans must dramatically reorganize their thinking and restructure their activities – or resign themselves to accepting Speaker Pelosi and the impeachment effort of 2019 (which will be the Democrats’ first priority, should they gain control of the House).”


Gingrich said the Trump “seems to understand how serious and how bad the situation is.”

The president has said:

  • “As you know I have a running war with the media. They are among the most dishonest human beings on earth.” Jan. 21, 2017
  • “But there are some terrible, dishonest people, and they do a tremendous disservice to our country and to our people.  A tremendous disservice.  They are very dishonest people, and they shouldn’t use sources.  They should put the name of the person.  You will see stories dry up like you’ve never seen before.”  Feb. 24, 2017
  • “The Washington media is part of the problem. Their priorities are not my priorities, and they’re not your priorities,” April 29, 2017

Surrendering in to the Left “will destroy America as we know it,” Gingrich wrote. “Far from making America great again, we will have yielded our country to left-wing thugs, liars, and intimidators.

“Those of us who truly want to make America great again have one choice: Fight. Our situation is similar to President Lincoln’s in 1861. He had to make the choice between fighting until he won or giving up on the idea of the United States. Once again, our country is at stake.

“The next few months will see one of the greatest decisions in American history. Do we fight to make America great again, or do we surrender to those who claim the elitist power to dictate to the rest of us?”