Democrats and the media did not complain in 2000 when Al Gore contested the outcome of the presidential election, but they are quick to call GOP nominee Donald Trump a "threat to democracy" and a "domestic insurrectionist," for saying he'll watch the current race to make sure it ends honestly, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich writes in a Fox News opinion piece.
"If the media and the left were actually concerned about the corrosion of our democratic institutions, as they self-righteously characterized their complaints, they might be a little more troubled than they appear to be by the presidential candidate who knowingly took tens of millions of dollars from foreign governments that fund ISIS," Gingrich said in the piece, published on Friday.
"And they might be a little less worried about the candidate who says he wants to make sure the vote is fair."
During Wednesday night's debate, and in a speech the following day, Trump said he would wait until the election happens to judge if it was carried out fairly, said Gingrich, and the complaints began.
However, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton will "undoubtedly" send lawyers and observers to every polling place in the country, but Gingrich said those on the left will consider them as "heroic defenders of the American people."
The real issue, Gingrich said, is that people complaining about Trump's debate answer aren't concerned about the democracy; they're concerned about Democrats.
They didn't complain last week, though, on one day when major television networks "spent a combined 23 minutes on allegations against Trump, and a combined 57 seconds on Wikileaks' damaging revelations about Hillary Clinton," said Gingrich.
In addition, "they are thrilled" that out of journalists' donations to presidential campaigns, Clinton got 96 percent, said the former speaker.
There also would have been a similar outcry when the Colorado primary was canceled so no Republicans could vote and when a decision was made to hand delegates to Trump's opponent, Gingrich continued.
"We might also have heard something when, after Trump got the most primary votes of any Republican in history, a small contingent of party elites tried to deny him the nomination anyway," said Gingrich.
There also was no outcry when a hidden camera revealed Democratic operatives talking about committing mass voter fraud, or when another camera caught the Clinton campaign paying agitators to incite violence at Trump's rallies and stage confrontations, notes Gingrich.
"It's not dangerous to democracy for Trump to watch for a fair election," concludes Gingrich. "It's dangerous for him not to."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.