Dems are ‘enraged’ and have ‘no solutions,’ says Newt Gingrich
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich shares how the left is resorting to hateful tactics to protest President Donald Trump and his administration on ‘Hannity.’
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on "Hannity" that Democrats are in a rage and offering "no solutions," dismissing a claim by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., that Republicans are "on the run." Gingrich said the left is resorting to extreme tactics in an effort to resist President Donald Trump and oppose Elon Musk's efforts to cut government spending.
‘THEATRICS’ BY LIBERAL LAWMAKERS DURING TRUMP'S SPEECH ONLY HELPED HIM ACCORDING TO DEM INSIDERS
NEWT GINGRICH: Well, I think that everything you showed earlier reflects what Lincoln said at Gettysburg when he said, this is a test of whether this system or any system so conceived in liberty can survive. You have a hard-line group who believe that they have the right to be violent, that they have the right to deny the American people the choice of their leadership, that they have the right to break the law. The answer to all of that is, frankly, you have to lock them up. You have to enforce the law. Period. And at some point, people begin to realize that you can't wage war against the entire American people. And in that sense, I would argue that Elon Musk is simply one of the people serving the American people. He's a senior advisor to the president of the United States. And I think that, in that sense, all of this is totally unacceptable, as is harassing a Supreme Court justice or harassing the vice president and his three-year-old.
People stand with other demonstrators during a protest of Elon Musk near a Tesla vehicle dealership, Saturday, March 8, 2025, in Decatur, Georgia. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
What I saw the other night … the House Democrats were sort of zombie Democrats. They couldn't applaud anything. They couldn't applaud the president. They couldn't applaud a 13-year-old cancer survivor. They couldn't applaud a young man who wanted to go to West Point. They couldn't applaud people who were there who had lost loved ones. It was pretty bizarre. And I think that, you know, Hakeem Jeffries may think he has to say these things. He's their leader. What's he going to say? But the fact is, the Democrats currently have no solutions. They are so enraged that Trump is actually changing what, overwhelmingly, Americans believe is a corrupt system. I'll just give you one piece of data. Our America's New Majority project just had a poll come out yesterday. 82% of the American people believe the system is corrupt. Now that's dangerous. Both for the survival of freedom. But also it tells you the fact that the Democrats, who want to defend the bureaucracy and the corruption and the waste, they're going to have a big mountain to climb come 2026.
NEWT GINGRICH: HOW HOUSE DEMOCRATS BECAME ZOMBIES
Democrats protest with signs as President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress in the Capitol on March 4, 2025. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Gingrich went on to recall that when he was House speaker in 1996, he and other Republicans applauded then-President Bill Clinton.
GINGRICH: Look, I had the opposite experience. I was the speaker of the House, sitting behind Bill Clinton when he got up in '96 and said, the era of big government is over. Now, I had to stand up and applaud. I mean, how can you not applaud that if you're conservative? You're right. And so, all that and all the years I went – whether it was Reagan, Carter, George H.W., Clinton – and all the time I went, I don't remember Republicans ever failing to stand for the president because we're standing for the office. We're not standing for the individual. We're standing for the elected official of the American people. And I think to not do that, begins to show an alienation that's very dangerous.
TOP 5 MOMENTS FROM TRUMP'S ADDRESS TO JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS
CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein said Monday that the Democratic Party was in its weakest position since the 1980s as the party continues to determine its best way forward.
"If you talk to Democrats, you know, they recognize they are in a hole. I mean, the image of the party is probably in a weaker position than at any point since I think the 1980s, the Reagan and George H.W. Bush era," Brownstein told CNN's Audie Cornish.
President Donald Trump reacts after addressing a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on March 4, 2025. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
"But if you ask Democrats how they think they are going to come back, there is a debate about, you know, within the party, do you fight on every front or do you focus on the economic issues? And I think most Democrats believe their best chance of kind of getting a second look from the public in 2025 is this debate over the budget," Brownstein argued.
Cornish and Brownstein discussed the Friday federal government funding deadline, as Cornish said GOP lawmakers were hoping to offset tax cuts in the federal budget and that the "likely target could be Medicaid." Democratic lawmakers have maintained that the GOP proposed bill included cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Brownstein argued that the Democratic Party could link the argument that the GOP will be cutting Medicaid to fund tax cuts for the wealthy to the budget, and that it might be their best strategy in 2025.
Fox News' Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.
Fox News First
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.