OPINION
Caricature of Newt-Gingrich (Image by DonkeyHotey)
There’s a straight line from Newt Gingrich to the mess we’re in now. You don’t get to Trump, to political extremism, to legislative nihilism, and to the corrosion of democratic norms without stepping over the scorched earth Gingrich left behind. And for that, may he rot in turmoil, philosophically, historically, and reputationally, for what he did to the soul of this country.
By William Garrison
Before Gingrich, politics in Washington, however flawed, still functioned on a baseline of decorum and shared responsibility. There were rules. There was compromise. There was an understanding, however frayed, that the other party wasn’t the enemy, but a competitor in a shared project called democracy. Gingrich blew all that up.
In the 1990s, as House Speaker, Gingrich unleashed a new brand of scorched-earth partisanship, treating the opposition not just as wrong, but as fundamentally illegitimate. He encouraged Republican candidates to demonize their opponents with words like “traitor,” “corrupt,” and “sick.” He made it standard practice to grind government to a halt for political gain. He weaponized impeachment not as a tool of last resort but as a cudgel for partisan war.
And the culture followed.
He taught Republicans that cooperation was weakness and that politics was warfare. The erosion of truth, the constant performative outrage, the cable news blitzkrieg, all of that found its genesis in Gingrich’s playbook. He was the ideological arsonist who handed matches to every would-be populist firebrand that came after him. He didn’t just break the system. He made destruction the point.
Gingrich’s legacy lives in the spineless opportunism that has consumed the GOP. It lives in the naked bigotry and authoritarian yearnings of the far right. It echoes in the rise of a man utterly unfit for the presidency, who rode Gingrich’s playbook of grievance and division straight to the White House, and poisoned the country in the process.
If you wonder how we got to a place where racism, misogyny, and lies are not just tolerated but celebrated in public life, look no further than the man who mainstreamed toxic politics as a pathway to power. Newt Gingrich wasn’t the beginning of all evil in American politics, but he was the architect of its modern, malignant form.
History may be slow to assign blame, but let’s be clear: the unraveling of our civic fabric didn’t start with Trump. It started with a smirk on Gingrich’s face and a crowbar in his hand, prying apart the fragile scaffolding of democracy to serve his own ambitions. And now, here we are, broken, bitter, and bracing for whatever fresh hell tomorrow brings.
So yes, may Newt Gingrich rot in turmoil. Not just for what he did, but for what he made possible, for the decades of dysfunction, division, and dishonor he left in his wake. Let his name be a warning: one man’s lust for power can wreck a republic.
William Garrison is a retired journalist residing in the San Gabriel Valley.
Spot on.