Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich mocked Mitt Romney on Wednesday for “sucking up” to President-elect Donald Trump as he contends for the position of secretary of state in the new administration.
“You have never, ever, in your career seen a serious adult who is wealthy, independent, been a presidential candidate, suck up at the rate that Mitt Romney is sucking up,” said Gingrich — an early Trump supporter and former 2012 GOP presidential rival of Romney’s — on Laura Ingraham’s radio show Wednesday.
Gingrich compared Romney’s dinner with Trump on Tuesday to “a scene in ‘Pretty Women’ where Richard Gere goes up to the salesman on Rodeo Drive and says, ‘We need a little sucking up here.'”
“I am confident that he thinks now that Donald Trump is one of his closest friends, that they have so many things in common, that they’re both such wise, brilliant people. And I’m sure last night, at an elegant three-star restaurant in New York, that Mitt was fully at home, happy to share his vision of populism, which involved a little foie gras, a certain amount of, you know, superb cooking. But was done in a populist, happy manner,” Gingrich said.
Gingrich ridiculed Romney as an out-of-touch elitist, characterizing him as a bad fit for a team that defined itself in opposition to the type of GOP political establishment that the former Republican presidential nominee represents.
“Luckily for them, Mitt speaks French fluently. So he could help them with the menu, he could say, ‘Oh, Mr. President-elect, this would be the perfect meal for you,'” Gingrich said, mimicking a French accent. “Something like maybe — escargot, maybe — triumphant pheasant under glass. Something really good, you can just imagine, god I’d love to have just been a fly on the wall, would have been so fun.”
The Trump loyalist said that he would respect whomever Trump ultimately chooses “because it’s his prerogative as president-elect,” but he also suggested that Trump may cool on Romney after taking the temperature of his supporters during his “thank you” tour of rallies across swing states, kicking off today.
“I think it will be very interesting if he goes on this thank you tour and his large crowds, you know, if he tests out the phrase Mitt Romney, secretary of state, it’ll be very interesting to watch a Trump crowd respond, because it would not be pretty,” he said.
Gingrich instead plugged Rudy Giuliani, another early Trump supporter and close associate who is also in the running for the top diplomat post.
“I don’t want to give up on Rudy. I think Rudy Giuliani is one of the great change agents of our lifetime. What he achieved was so unbelievable in New York City. That — he would make a great secretary of state because he has the drive, energy and toughness to take on the State Department bureaucracy,” he said.
Gingrich was passed up by Trump when selected his running mate, tapping Indiana Gov. Mike Pence instead.