The Republican primaries are becoming increasingly crowded. Within the last week, it witnessed a parade of new candidates, including Mike Pence, Chris Christie and Doug Burgum, joining Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Asa Hutchinson, Larry Elder, Ryan Binkley and Perry Johnson. Ahead of the first debate on August 23, Newt Gingrich analyzed this context and predicted that the more names that enter the race, the greater the chances that the former president will be the eventual nominee.
The former spokesman spoke with Laura Ingraham on Fox News and was explicitly asked about the makeup of the GOP primary. He first stopped at the figure of Pence, whom he described as a "good congressman, governor and vice president. He's young, he's smart, he has a national base of people who admire his traditional conservatism, and I think he's thinking, 'Why not?'"
However, he was not very optimistic about his chances of winning. "I mean, a lot of these guys are focused on the idea that ... somewhere down the road, whether it's the Justice Department indictment or the Atlanta indictment or something else, that magically Trump will disappear and then there will be an open race. Frankly, in an open race, Mike Pence is very attractive as [is] Gov. DeSantis," he added.
Gingrich also asserted that the average voter is not thinking about what kind of Republican Party they would like for the future but which candidate will be able to fix inflation, the economy, control the border, improve education and "knock down the weird leftist Wokeism."
Newt Gingrich: Trump probably pops champagne corks every time a candidate enters the GOP field. pic.twitter.com/qYc9qQvvWp
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) June 8, 2023
He had positive comments about Burgum, governor of South Dakota, whom he called an "interesting guy." He was interrupted by Ingraham seconds later, noting that he is, in fact a "globalist."
Gingrich's "two lakes" theory
The former spokesman analyzed the primary situation in depth and divided the electorate into two lakes: Trump voters (the larger one) and anti-Trump voters (the smaller one). According to him, the fact that candidates continue to enter only benefits the tycoon.
"Trump, I suspect, is popping champagne corks at Mar-a-Lago every time there's a new candidate. I mean what he wants is 15 or 20 candidates out there making a whole range of noise and one person that the country identifies with. If he gets that he could be the nominee by March," he continued.
Requirements to enter the RNC debate
Republican candidates must pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee, a requirement that Trump regards as unfavorable. In addition, they must meet donations from at least 40,000 domestic taxpayers. The candidate must consistently obtain more than 1% in three national polls or two national polls and one state poll while having "at least 200 unique donors per state or territory in more than 20 states and/or territories." Finally, they may not participate in any external debates.
The deadline to comply with the requirements will be August 21, just 48 hours before the first Republican presidential debate. As to which polls will be valid, only those after June 1 will be counted.
