How Newt Gingrich could kill the Tea Party

Newt Gingrich polls well among Tea Partiers, but his history as a Washington insider could discredit the Tea Party if it keeps supporting him, says Conor Friedersdorf at The Atlantic.

(Image credit: REUTERS/Daron Dean)

last updated 8 January 2015

As Newt Gingrich's surge to the top of the GOP presidential polls continues, Conor Friedersdorf at The Atlantic marvels at new Gallup data that shows 82 percent of Tea Party-affiliated Republicans deem Gingrich an "acceptable presidential nominee," compared to only 58 percent for Romney. Tea Partiers "don't seem to realize that if he wins the nod their movement is doomed," Friedersdorf says. After all, the former House speaker supported many of the Bush-era big government programs that the Tea Party hates, including TARP, No Child Left Behind, and the "budget-busting" drug entitlement program Medicare Part D. But if Gingrich wins the nomination, it seems likely that Tea Party members would support him. That would do irreparable damage to the movement, says Friedersdorf, "as it would be the ultimate act of sacrificing principle and ideological purity for the sake of beating Democrats." Here's why:

President Gingrich would take office, and proceed to behave like... well, a decades-long Washington insider who supported No Child Left Behind, Medicare Part D, the attempt at a guest worker program, TARP, and the Harriet Miers nomination. Every conservative betrayal would be a reminder that the Tea Party helped elect just the sort of man they'd so righteously vowed to eschew.