Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich pointed to the “almost verbatim parallels” in response to President Donald Trump’s inaugural address earlier this year and that of former President Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural address in 1861.
Gingrich cited the work of Gettysburg College historian Dr. Allen Guelzo, the college’s Henry Luce Professor of the Civil War Era, who initially made that comparison, in response to a question from host Tucker Carlson about the potential for civil war in the country.
“A very good friend of mine teaches Civil War history at Gettysburg College,” Gingrich explained. “And he has made the case that the parallels between Trump’s inaugural and Lincoln’s inaugural and the reactions to them are amazing. But if you go and you look at how South Carolina’s slave newspapers responded to Lincoln, and then you look at how the left responded to Trump, they are almost verbatim parallels. And you know, I wish we could all sing Kumbaya and come together, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. And I think what’s going to happen is the left is going to get crazier and crazier.
Carlson followed up with a question about what to do about the divisions. Gingrich said ultimately one side would win and that the way it was trending with election results, things were not going well for the Democratic Party.
“Look, as a historian, my view is pretty straightforward. One side or the other wins. It’s not like you come together at some grand compromise. One side or the other wins. What’s happening and what’s driving the left crazy is the eight years of Obama were a disaster at every level below the presidency. They lost state legislative seats. They lost governorships. They lost the House and Senate. So the country in response to seeing the left began moving away from the left. And that process, I think, is continuing. And I think that’s part of why you see a Democratic Party that can’t recover even when the president gives them opportunities. I think also they are faced with reality.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor