“A few days ago, Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina primary.” It seems like a perfectly simple, ordinary sentence at first—it has a subject, a verb, even a neat little appositive phrase. On closer inspection, however, it is clear that the repercussions presented by the content of the sentence are far from simple.
The initial implication is quite obvious—they don’t want Romney enough to resurrect Gingrich from his political ditch, get him onto a stage, and rally around him to the point where the impossible became the possible, as embodied in that neat little sentence above. The primaries have progressed to the point that it’s Mitt Romney running against Anybody-But-Romney.
Clearly, the Republican elephant appears to have an incredibly short memory. The key factor behind Gingrich’s resignation from his position as Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1998 was an ethics violation, when he claimed tax-exempt status for a college course that was run for political purposes. He was prosecuted not only for violating federal tax law, but also for lying to the ethics panel on the subject. Gingrich’s record on taxes is remarkably weak, especially for a presidential campaign in which the economy will be the main issue. Despite all this, Gingrich still appears—at least to South Carolinians—to be the better option over Romney.
Gingrich’s win speaks for more than just the current state of political affairs and Republican infighting. It speaks to the state of the Republican Party, and the radical shift that has occurred during Obama’s presidency. Being a Republican and being a conservative or libertarian are hardly synonymous in neo-Republicanism, to which Gingrich subscribes. Old-school conservatism is about tradition tinged with wariness towards change, which in turn leads to a natural predisposition towards more traditional institutions like the military and the Church. The only institution a good Republican will cling to today is that of vitriol against President Obama; the only law is hatred. Last week, a Georgia judge called Obama to stand in court against a complaint that he is not, in fact, a natural-born citizen of the United States and that he needs to produce a valid birth certificate. After all this time, this fabrication is apparently still a perfectly legal and reasonable claim to make against the president, who has already produced his certificate. This Georgia judge certainly represents another facet of Newt Gingrich’s Republicans: The elevation of ignorance over intelligence. As recently as March 2011, Gingrich was quoted as saying that he fears his grandchildren will inherit a “secular atheist country … dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American.” There are very few places to begin dissecting the pure bigotry and ignorance exuded by this quote.
Of course, there is the clunky social agenda to address. Gingrich somehow seems to be the hallmark, the lapel pin, of “genuine” conservatives today. In political discussion about Gingrich, I’ve often heard some variation of “I don’t agree with his social policy; his economic policy is all that matters to me.” This statement shows exactly how unfit Gingrich is to be president. The function of the president is to govern the nation, which happens to be comprised of individuals—individuals who may be gay, gender-queer, or the children of illegal immigrants, among other minorities who very much inform the political landscape in America today. Gingrich’s policies—his support of the Defense of Marriage Act, his fear-mongering against Muslims—further remove the agency of minorities in the public sphere. In other words, neo-Republicanism, particularly as espoused by Gingrich, ignores reality.
At this point in the campaign, Republicans are desperate. In past years, roughly around the time of the South Carolina and Florida primaries, Republicans have rallied around a single candidate and have decided on an agenda. The ups and downs of this campaign have shaken the core of the G.O.P.: first Bachmann, then Perry, then Gingrich, then Santorum, then Gingrich again. The selection and success of Gingrich demonstrates just how deep into the field the Republicans have had to dig to find support. He is a player with more toxicity than he is worth: the questionable tax practices, his penchant for being controversial, his reputation as an unreasonable narcissist, and his messy private life, which includes two divorces and two affairs. But in the deep haze of a panic, somehow South Carolina managed to pick Gingrich.
