Newt Gingrich: Republicans will win big in 2018 if they tell the truth

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich is predicting a "great political surprise" in 2018, as the reality of tax cuts for most Americans overtakes liberal lies in the mainstream media.

Writing in an op-ed for FoxNews.com, Gingrich says the media is "deceiving itself."

"These are not analysts. These are liberal propagandists. Much of what they assert is just plain wrong. Fake news is, sadly, an accurate term. And the topic about which they have been the most fake is the GOP’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act."

Gingrich points out that leading up to the Republican tax plan's passage, the media was breathless in repeated assertions that the Republican plan would increase taxes on middle-class Americans. CNBC, for example, reported in November that the Senate tax bill would "ultimately raise taxes on 50% of Americans." Weeks of similar reporting led to the widespread belief that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would raise taxes on a majority of Americans.

It is true that the original House bill raised taxes on some individuals. But the tax  plan was changed in the Senate, and the final version that passed through Congress provided a substantial tax cut all around.

"[T]he bill passed, and unsurprisingly, it turned out to be dramatically better for Americans than the elite media had described," Gingrich writes. "In fact, the tax cuts will be the 2018 proving ground of media liberal bias and dishonesty."

Gingrich is on to something. The American people's trust in media has already faltered this year, particularly among the voters who put President Trump into office. As he says, lies about the tax plan will be exposed in February when, according to an analysis from the left-leaning Tax Policy Center, at least 80 percent of Americans will start receiving bigger paychecks thanks to the Trump tax cuts. Trust in media will continue to plummet when their reporting does not conform to reality.

Gingrich predicts Democrats will regret opposing the tax cut. This is already coming to pass. When socialist Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was confronted with the facts, namely that 91 percent of middle-income Americans are getting tax cuts, he declared it a "very good thing" and said the tax cuts should be made permanent. Seeing an opening, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, pounced and challenged Sanders to cosponsor legislation to do just that.

All Republicans have to do is offer such a bill, and Democrats will be forced to go along with making the Republican tax cuts permanent after fighting tooth and nail against passing them in the first place.

And so the stage is set for "a definitive election," Gingrich proclaims.

Do you want higher taxes, bigger bureaucracy, more power in Washington, and a smaller economy with lower take-home pay and fewer jobs? If yes, vote Democrat, because that is what they stand for and will continue to vote for next year.

If you want a bigger economy, more jobs, more take-home pay, less power with Washington bureaucrats, and lower taxes with more money in your pocket, then vote Republican.

Democrats are exposed as a party of liars. The media is exposed as complicit in their lies. Republicans become the party of bigger paychecks.

It's a formula for Republican victory in 2018, a formula built off of keeping a core Republican promise.

But therein lies the trap for Republicans. They will succeed, as Gingrich predicts, if they can keep their promises. However, if they continue to break their promises, as they broke their core pledge to fully repeal Obamacare, they cede ground to the Democrats and undermine whatever accomplishments they made in this tax bill.

The 2018 legislative agenda will be jam-packed with plans to tackle a $1 trillion infrastructure program, entitlement reform, a DACA deal, banking reform, and several expensive appropriations bills. Already, some Republicans are backing off from conservative priorities, like reforming welfare and cutting spending, and stressing the need for bipartisan compromise on amnesty for illegal aliens and unconscionable levels of government spending.

Prioritizing amnesty before border security, government spending before fiscal responsibility, and bipartisan compromise before keeping promises to the voters who put Republicans in charge will sweep Democrats into power and doom the Trump agenda.

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