Trump & Gingrich: Two Leaders of National ‘Movements.’

Back in 1994 I spent an hour one-on-one with Newt Gingrich, who was planning the campaign that would give the House of Representatives a majority and would elevate Newt to Speaker in 1995. Remember the ‘Contract with America?’

I was with Newt because I had gone out to a county club on Long Island to play a round of golf, and when I came back into the clubhouse, Newt was just winding up a speech at a fundraiser being held at the club.

Somebody knew I was driving back into Manhattan; Newt needed a ride into the city and that’s how I ended up getting a lowdown from the guy who was five months away from leading the GOP to a tremendous victory and turning him into a national name.

As we started talking, we found out that we had a lot in common. We were both former history professors — Newt went into politics, and I went into business. We had both been rejected by Harvard for graduate school, which was the reason that Newt always harbored a grudge against the Eastern elite. And we both were transplanted northerners who had lived in the South — Newt from Pennsylvania to Georgia, me from New York to South Carolina and then back to New York.

On the other hand, what struck me about Newt was his almost reverent love of money and his belief that people with money were better than people…