In a move that should come as a surprise to absolutely no one, Donald Trump surrogate Newt Gingrich supported his candidate’s recent criticism of former Miss Universe Alicia Machado. This despite bipartisan responses to Trump’s sexism by Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, The Daily Show and countless others.
Gingrich’s remarks, which were delivered behind closed doors at a dinner with the Log Cabin Republicans in Washington, D.C., came to Politico’s attention on Thursday:
“You’re not supposed to gain 60 pounds during the year that you’re Miss Universe,” he said. “Not fair. Even my act of saying that is sexist and proves I’m not being sensitive.”
According to the report, Gingrich wasn’t the only person present at the private dinner who shared Trump’s sentiments, as his comments “[elicited] laughter from the room.”
If that weren’t enough, the former House Speaker appeared on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s program to discuss Trump’s disparaging remarks about Machado. That and, unsurprisingly, Hillary Clinton’s ad featuring the former Miss Universe and its response to Donald’s insults, and her bringing it up at Monday night’s televised debate:
“She drops this in in two or three sentences. It’s not quite clear why she’s saying it — it’s a 20-year-old story. It’s clearly an ambush set up by the elite media… this could be a situation comedy.”
Gingrich proceeded to suggest Trump avoid “in the gutter” tactics while meeting Clinton at the next two debates, but not before trashing Machado’s claims and character further. What about this qualifies the renewed Miss Universe debacle as a sitcom doesn’t seem obvious, though considering Gingrich’s penchant for film criticism, maybe he’s dipping his toes into television.
(Via Politico)
