Load up on popcorn: The Republican ticket may be poised to go to 11. According to numerous reports, Donald Trump is considering Newt Gingrich as his running mate. And as traffic-baiters like to say on the Internet: You won’t believe what happens next!

But first I should come clean. I like Gingrich. My wife worked for him for several years.

Whatever his faults, the former House speaker — and architect of the “Republican Revolution” in 1994 — is a brilliant man with almost encyclopedic knowledge of political history and a grab bag of other topics as well. When John Boehner stepped down from the speakership last year, I proposed in this space that Gingrich serve as his temporary replacement.

I should also say that picking Gingrich could be a brilliant idea. Trump has said, admirably, that he wants someone who knows how Washington works. For good and for ill, Gingrich fits that bill. He understands the legislative process, knows everybody, and can navigate the vast ecosystem of lobbyists to his advantage. (Gingrich earned nearly $1.8 million from Freddie Mac serving as a consulting “historian.”)

Gingrich may have mastered the language of taking on “the Washington elites,” but being one has been his job description for nearly 30 years.

Over roughly the same period, I have to say, Gingrich foreshadowed Trumpism. In the 1990s, he used talk radio much the way Trump has exploited social media to get his message past the gatekeepers. In 2012, Gingrich leveraged the debates to dominate the news cycle like a force of nature, attacking — often with devastating efficacy — the presumptions and arrogance of the media.

Trump has made it clear that he’s more interested in winning over disaffected Democrats than reluctant conservatives. Gingrich beat him to the punch there, too. Gingrich masterminded much of the GOP’s attempt to push white working-class Democrats into the Republican column.

And a few years ago, he was ensorcelled by his own idea of a new “tripartisan” movement, which led him to team up for various projects with Nancy Pelosi and Al Sharpton, among others.

Bill Clinton tapped Al Gore in 1992 to reinforce — rather than offset — his brand as a next-generation Southern moderate. (This was before Gore became a Silicon Valley cliche.) In many respects, a Trump-Gingrich ticket would also count as a “double-down” move (and not just in the sense that they’ve totaled six wives between them) — except that while Trump can’t offer much beyond the bumper sticker “Make America Great Again,” Gingrich has written books on “Renewing American Civilization.”

Gingrich could complement Trump; he could be like the walking explanatory footnote to Trump’s every outburst.

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Source: Jonah Goldberg, newsmax.com