Newt Gingrich on Thursday criticized Republican politicians who “lose their nerve” when it comes to taking a strong stand on immigration.
Speaking to Fox News host Tucker Carlson directly after an opening segment during which the Fox News host brought up Democratic efforts to “pack the electorate” by filling it with Democratic-leaning immigrants, Gingrich noted that Democrats would have a “harder time winning an election with law-abiding Americans.”
WATCH:
“The more people they can bring in who don’t know American history and don’t understand the Constitution and are not part of our traditional values, the better off their chances are,” said the former House speaker. “I think that’s why every single Democratic senator co-sponsored Senator Feinstein’s open border bill which would literally have opened the border to virtually everybody in the world to come to America.”
After mentioning how House Republicans are even now “trying to undo the attorney general’s efforts to tighten the border,” Tucker asked: “Why don’t Republicans on the hill understand the threat that these policies pose to the country and to them?” (RELATED: Tucker Says Dems Support Open Borders For ‘Reliable New Voters,’ Slams Republicans Perfectly Happy To Grant Their Wish)
“I frankly don’t get it,” Gingrich responded, noting that the majority of Americans are actually with the GOP on many facets of the issue. “Yet Republicans often behave as though they represent a minority interest when in fact even most people who are here as immigrants would like to see law abiding country that is physically safe.”
“The Republican Party won’t exist as a national party at this rate fairly soon,” said Carlson. “A lot of members I know on the hill can do math pretty well but they don’t understand that calculation.”
“Well, I think somehow they lose their nerve,” said Gingrich, citing the “constant” drum beat of the media as a primary factor.
The former House speaker then gave Tucker’s viewers a history lesson on former President Ronald Reagan’s 1986 amnesty bill.
“I can tell you I even voted in 1986 for the Simpson-Mazzoli Act which did have amnesty which promised us control of the border,” said Gingrich. “Reagan signed it reluctantly and wrote in his memoir, his diary, that the only reason he did was to get control of the border. The Congress broke its word. We had ten times as many people come in under amnesty as we were told, 3 million instead of 300,000, and then President Reagan did not get the things he was promised, which were a work permit system and control of the border. Ever since I have been very skeptical.”
“There’s a large part of the national elite that for some reasons loves immigration of any kind and dislikes controlling the border under any circumstance, and routinely smears people,” he added.
