Gingrich praises...

Gingrich praises Clinton's 'spectacular speech'

By NOLAN D. MCCASKILL

Hillary Clinton’s speech Tuesday reveling in her historic title as the first woman to clinch a major political party’s presidential nomination drew praise from an unlikely source Wednesday: a Republican who has endorsed Donald Trump.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich described the reality star’s toned down, teleprompter speech Tuesday as “very fine” but cast Clinton’s remarks as a “spectacular speech” that was “very effective.”

“Let me first say that I thought Hillary Clinton’s speech last night was very effective,” Gingrich said Wednesday via Facebook live. “No conservative, no Republican should assume that she’s gonna be a pushover.”

After apologizing for his hair — it’s not quite right, he said, but will be cut Thursday — Gingrich suggested that Clinton will be a formidable challenger to Trump.

“She has, of course, the FBI investigation and the scandals, and all those things weighing her down. But we should not assume that the Clintons have any track record of defeating themselves,” he said, adding that she deserves a lot of credit for being the first woman to become the nominee of a major party.

“She gave a spectacular speech last night that laid out how she’s going to campaign, what she’s gonna to try to do,” Gingrich said. “And I think that the Republicans in general and the Trump folks in particular are gonna have to really think through how they’re going to deal with it.”

Gingrich recently drew the ire of Trump after saying last weekend that Trump's racially based attack on the judge overseeing the Trump University lawsuits was "one of the worst mistakes Trump has made, and I think it's inexcusable."

Trump fired back, calling Gingrich's comments "inappropriate."

On Wednesday, Gingrich offered counsel, saying Trump should emphasize his differences with Clinton on issues like the economy, especially in wake of the May jobs report, which announced just 38,000 new jobs — the smallest increase since 2010.

“If Hillary Clinton believes that an economy that produces one job for every 8,000 Americans is an OK economy — well, Trump ought to be able to draw a big distinction,” he said.

“If he goes big — talks about big differences, talks about the opportunity to make a big difference — I think he does a better job than if he gets sucked down into a personality fight, which I think Hillary would love,” Gingrich said. “She can win a campaign of words. She cannot win a campaign based on reality because the realities simply aren’t working for her.”

For Trump to win the White House in November, Gingrich continued, the brash billionaire has to evolve into a disciplined general election candidate.

“He has to grow into being the kind of nominee that you want to have as president because being a candidate for the nomination is one thing,” he said. “Being a candidate to be president of the United States, leader of the free world, boy, that’s a much tougher standard. So I think he’s gotta grow into that.”

He added that Trump needs more speeches like Tuesday night’s controlled, structured remarks but blasted the media for its response to the real estate mogul’s use of a teleprompter in lieu of his typical extemporaneous style.

“Hillary uses a teleprompter all the time. Obama uses a teleprompter all the time. Somehow if you’re a liberal that’s OK,” Gingrich said. “And I think Trump’s just gotta recognize that’s an objective requirement of being a successful leader at the level he’s at.”