Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said Monday he wants to be a long-term strategic planner for President-elect Donald Trump in order to transform the country.
Speaking on Fox News Monday, Gingrich said his thoughts are already on how to hand off a successful Trump administration to a Republican successor in January 2025. He wants to work in the administration in such a way that would help him focus the administration on that lofty goal.
“It’s not a very normal position but this is not going to be a very normal presidency,” he said.
Gingrich was a possible candidate to be Trump’s running mate, but was passed over for Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. He said when Trump told him he wasn’t going to be vice president, he started lobbying for a job as a long-term strategist.
He touted his “historic perspective” as one of the qualities that would serve Trump in changing the country in the ways that he has promised. The focus can’t simply be on each individual political fight, Gingrich said.
“I probably bring a different historic perspective to this than most people,” Gingrich said, “and to achieve the kind of goals they have in mind you need to have some strategic planning.”
Gingrich praised the selections of Reince Priebus as chief of staff and Steve Bannon as a senior strategist, saying the two would work well together.
Still, he made his case for being a part of the strategic team in the White House by touting his previous work for Ronald Reagan, Don Rumsfeld and in other parts of the Bush administration. Gingrich promised his decades of work in Washington, D.C. would continue.
“I’ll be around,” he said.
