The only surprise is that it took him this long to slither to DJT, aside from his recent stint as consort to the US Ambassador to the Holy See.

The rot runs even deeper, but if Newt can’t take home the sash and tiara, he can claim a finalist position among the toxic waste that’s the modern GOP and the elite media that enables the spectacle.

Calling it sophistry is unfair to sophists.

It’s more Professional Wrestling, with touts like Lee Atwater, Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, et al, taking a fuck all approach to public policy.

And outlets like Politico can always be counted on for publicity.

Because why do actual journalism when it’s so much easier providing content?

Add in paid TV appearances, the lecture circuit, and maybe a book deal with revelations only an insider can offer…

Beats having to meet a deadline every day.

I don’t think it’s an accident that three of the last four GOP presidents were essentially entertainment figures (Bush Junior was a baseball executive before running for governor in Texas and I believe his undergraduate degree is in Marketing).

Their voter base, to the extent they even care, view politics not as public policy, but as TV.

or grievance rallies as performance art.

Gingrich himself is a huckster. The largest electorate he ever seriously faced was a suburban Atlanta congressional district.

But through the magic of TV, elite/insider journalism, etc., he’s managed to demagogue his way through life for coming on half a century.

Playing on prejudice beats working for him as well.

But not for us.