Appearing Monday on the Fox News Channel’s The Ingraham Angle, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) a “fossilized element of a party that’s disappearing” after it was revealed Romney ran a secret Twitter account under the pseudonym “Pierre Delecto” where he “liked” a message taking jabs at Gingrich’s personal life.
A partial transcript is as follows:
LAURA INGRAHAM: You’re Newt Gingrich, you know a lot more than I do, I’m sure, but, here’s my take. [Romney] represents a state that voted huge for Donald Trump. The approval among Republicans of the president and his overall record is 94 percent. All these people who love to blow their own horn, have their moments, and get all the accolades, the liberation of Mitt Romney, this is a common occurrence. The old establishment Republican Party is on their last [legs]. It’s only helping the left. It’s not helping some greater cause of constitutional democracy. It’s about Mitt Romney and ingratiating themselves with the right people on the left.
FORMER SPEAKER NEWT GINGRICH: As a historian, I think this is how revolutions occur. Mitt Romney represents the old order. Well, guess what, he just gave you an old order speech. Why should that surprise anyone? Maybe I am generous to a fault, but the truth is I don’t pay attention to Mitt Romney. I don’t think Mitt Romney matters in the long run of American political history. He certainly does not matter in a Donald Trump Republican Party. I think he is a fossilized element of a party that is disappearing. It doesn’t offend me. Mitt Romney’s being true to Mitt Romney…I’m not trying to psychoanalyze Mitt. We were competitors. We have enough scars on both sides. But I think, as a historian, you’re correct to say whether it was Paul Ryan or it was Mitt Romney or a handful of other people, they are the old order and it’s an order which is disappearing.