Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich predicted that most of President Obama’s policies, and thus his legacy, will disappear within the next 12 months under the Trump administration.
“What you’re watching is a man who realizes all of a sudden 90 percent of his legacy is going to disappear, because he didn’t do the hard work of passing legislation,” Gingrich said on Fox News.
Gingrich’s comments were in response to Obama’s recent advice to President-elect Trump, when he said Trump should go through the legislative process, “in part because it is harder to undo.” Obama has said he accepts that Trump will want to reverse some of the executive actions, which is “entirely within his lawful power to do so,” and is a “part of the democratic process.”
Gingrich said Trump will want to start repealing some of Obama’s rules as soon as he is sworn in on Jan. 20. “[S]tarting the opening day, when Trump begins to repeal all these executive orders, it’s going to be like one of those balloons that deflates,” he said. What will remain is only a “core of about 10 to 15 percent of what he originally did. The rest is all going to disappear within a year.”
“[B]y the way, it’s also a warning to Trump,” Gingrich said. “Trump needs a bipartisan Trump majority that actually passes legislation in the House and Senate. It can’t be narrowly Republican. He doesn’t want to repeat the Obama mistake.”
Trump has pledged to “cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama” during his first 100 days in office. Since Election Day, Obama has signed eight executive orders.
