NEWT:
Well, look, I think when you realize that President Trump was born in Queens, spent most of his life in Manhattan, he’s a he understands American cities. He sent all over the country in cities. And he recognized, as he said the other night, I was very pleased with his speech in Iowa after he won. And he said very clearly that Washington has to be cleared up. They’ve had over 6300 cars stolen last year, for example. They’re averaging about 14 cars a day being stolen right now. The city’s a disaster. That’s our national capital. We have an obligation for it to be a good, safe, visitable national capital. But he also is aware that New York is a mess. Chicago is a mess. San Francisco is a mess. And I thought and he was very clear in his speech in Iowa and said he wants to reach out to Democratic mayors, Democratic city councils and find out can we, in fact, have a reform program that brings about safety, that fixes the education system, that creates jobs, and that returns us to a world in which America’s cities are healthy, clean, wonderful to visit, And people both feel safe and the people of the city have a better future. I thought it was a very important break, and I think he’s the first presidential candidate other than Jack Kemp, who really has begun to focus on the cities. And I hope he’s going to come back and give a series of speeches because there are policies that could dramatically rebuild the cities.
NEWT:
Well, I thought what you heard the other night in his Iowa acceptance speech was actually the beginning of how he will govern not just a general election language, but I think he has in his own head a vision of bringing together virtually everybody except the hard left, working together as a very practical team and getting real things done. That also fits his career as a businessman. This is a guy who likes projects, He likes achievement, he likes getting things done. He proved it for four years. The polling data is overwhelming. The people feel like he was much more successful in their lives and improving their future than Joe Biden has been. And that’s going to be both a great strength in the election, but more importantly, it’s going to be a great strength in terms of governing the country starting in 2025.
NEWT:
I think he will. Look, I think he has a real shot at carrying New York. I know that’s going to sound like blue sky, but you look at the disaster that the current governor is you look at the disaster that the mayor is you look at the anger people have over illegal immigration and over crime and over the drug epidemic and of the size of the taxes, the amount of corruption. I think you could find out that Lee Zeldin was a forerunner and that you’re going to have a much more Republican New York in 2024 than anybody thought possible.
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