Newt Gingrich: 'Smartest Thing' for Biden Is Reaching Out to GOP

President-elect Joe Biden would be well-served to put out an olive branch to Republicans before the inauguration to signal that he's willing to work with both parties because at this point, there is no evidence that lawmakers are seeking unity, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Monday. 

"Look, the smartest thing President-elect Biden could do would be to calmly put out a note saying that he disapproves of pursuing personal vendettas and invite the Senate Republicans, all of them, to come to a meeting before the inaugural to sit down and listen to them," said Gingrich on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "That would give him a better launch for his inauguration than anything he could do."

However, there is no evidence that lawmakers are trying to come together and "every evidence" that the left is trying to frame the violence last week at the Capitol as "the big moment," said Gingrich.

Gingrich said he does sympathize with the level of fear felt during the attack on the Capitol, but he thinks that is leading them to some steps that will prove counterproductive because trying to keep Trump from seeking reelection will "give him a whole new cause."

Instead, the focus should be on the big issues, said Gingrich, such as COVID-19 and China. 

"I don't think the Biden people are going to be dramatically more effective than the Trump team was," said Gingrich. "China is on the march and we are going to in the next few years take a terrible beating. The Iranians are aggressive and we have no solution for that, and the Europeans are falling apart."

Further, most Americans remain trapped in their homes because of COVID-19, and their children are "not getting a decent education," he said. 

"If you are a small business, you are being destroyed by the politicians' decisions, so there are so many big things we need to focus on," said Gingrich. "It's somewhat tragic to have the media and people like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi being absorbed by politics."

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