Peter Wehner: Gingrich Is ‘Really Malignant’ Figure in American Politics, GOP Party Is ‘a Dagger Pointed at American Democracy’

EXCERPT:

WEHNER: "Yeah, well, the cost is going to be considerable. Certainly in terms of the cost of history, the cost of the reputation. And when it comes to Rudy Giuliani, it may cost him prison time as well. You’re exactly right, Joe. I mean, you see figures who know better, who have acted better in the past, who have become different people, different people than they were. I will say about Gingrich, there I’m not so sure. Reflecting back on him, I think he turns out to be one of the significant and really malignant figures in American politics. He had this playbook back even in the ’70s and ’80s about the sort of rhetorical war-like language that he used. It’s worse now, but this may be fundamentally who he is. It’s just that — you know, so many of the Republicans, Joe, have shown themselves to accommodate themselves to whatever the environment is. In a way, I guess it’s a deep conservative cultural insight, which is the environment matters a lot. John Kennedy said that there’s a reason that profiles in courage was a slim volume. There are not many people in politics or in any arena of human life that have the courage to stand up when it’s difficult to stand up, when there’s a cost to it. I think what we’re seeing is this radicalization of the party, which started with a base, was amplified by Trump, and now has spread, and Republican after Republican after Republican has accommodated themselves to it. So we've now got a situation in which Liz Cheney, who is as conservative as can be, is a pariah in the party, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, who's been an advocate for QAnon, is more popular than she is. So, this is really a dangerous time and for people like you and I, who have been part of the Republican Party, it’s a painful time because this party is a dagger pointed at American democracy. We have to name that."