NEWT:
Well, I think he’s had a very good opening couple of weeks. He took two bold decisions, one, to take the $106 billion package that Biden sent up, which is really five different bills. I wrote a newsletter the other day outlining these are five totally different bills. He broke out Israel, which is the most urgent. That was a big decision and will face huge hostility from Democrats in the Senate and the White House. And then second, he did something which I think is overdue. He said we’re going to actually pay for it. And so he found an offset with IRS money. There’s just there’s like $86 billion in this pool of money. He’s taking 14 and a half out to pay for this. Well, that, of course, offends everybody in Washington who believes in big government and massive spending. But I think it’s the right fight. Now, the challenge is going to be can he now comfortably just relax? They’ve done their job. The House has passed a bill. They’ve provided aid for Israel. They’ve done it in a fiscally responsible manner and say to the Senate, you know, you can send us whatever you want. This is the bill we’re going to stand by. And if you want to aid for Israel quickly, this is the bill you’re going to accept.
NEWT:
No, not much, because we had Bob Dole, who was running for president. And therefore want him to work with us. And then when he stepped down, Trent Lott, who was an old friend, had been in the house for years, became the leader. So we were able to pretty well coordinate. And part of what’s going on here, I think, is a generational shift. People like Mitch McConnell, who’s been a remarkably effective leader, longest serving leader in the history of the Senate, represents a world where you just kept writing blank checks and the debt kept going up. And where you if you’re a leader, you want the biggest possible bill. Because that lets you put more goodies inside it. Well, as a conservative, I opposed to both of those principles. I see no reason why. And I’m very strongly for aid to go to Ukraine, because we cannot afford to allow Russia to win. If Russia wins in Ukraine, we will face a much bigger war in Western Europe.
NEWT:
Well, I also think you’ve got the reality that the next thing that Speaker Johnson should do is bring up a Ukraine bill, have an offset. You know, you have a 6 trillion 200 billion budget. Now, if you can’t find 1%, which is all you need to take care of Ukraine, then you’re not very serious about helping Ukraine. This idea that we’re going to keep writing blank checks, keep having an inflation rate, keep having the debt go up every year, keep having interest on the debt, which will now be bigger than the defense budget. This is a moment to draw a line in the sand and stand there. And I do think he ought to bring up aid to Ukraine. I do think stopping the Russians is a long term historic necessity. And by the way, if you looked at what the Russians were doing in a lot of those places. They were at least as vicious as the Hamas terrorists. More people have been brutally killed by the Russians than were killed on October 7th by Hamas. And it’s just the fact you don’t have as many television there. You don’t have as much video but what the Russians have been doing is as barbaric as Hamas.
NEWT:
Well, we’ve we’ve lost a fight for the education system. And so you have a generation that’s growing up brainwashed into believing things that aren’t true. I mean, when you have somebody tell you that killing 40 babies, including cutting their heads off, is not really an act of terrorism. You have people who are seriously out of touch with the real world. And I think it means we ought to have a very serious effort on two fronts. One, taking on terrorism head on. Making it illegal to support and help terrorists. And two really reexamining the entire university structure, potentially including repealing their tax break. I mean, why would we give Harvard a tax break but that has $40 billion in its endowment and it’s dominated by left wingers who hate America.
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