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Having become a bit disenchanted with politics recently, I thought that I’d lost my capacity for outrage. Witnessing the rise-and-fall-and-rise-and-fall-and-rise of Newt Gingrich finally restored it. I watched the returns from the South Carolina primary on Saturday night, astonished, perplexed, disturbed: could this actually be happening? Conservatives have labored for three long years to shed the ideological legacy of the Bush years — are they really about to throw that all away and hitch their wagon to Newt Gingrich?

Jean Baudrillard, a pretentious postmodern philosopher, proferred the idea that we no longer live in the real world; that reality has devolved into a ‘simulacrum’ in which we communicate through signs that don’t really have anything to do with what exists. The ascendance of Newt Gingrich would seem to have proven him right: his supporters thrive on the signals given out by the character he plays on television when the debate cameras roll — and seem to literally not care at all about what he actually believes or what he’s done.

I’m not a populist, and I don’t begrudge Newt for his status as a Washington insider. The system is certainly in dire need of a drastic overhaul, but I don’t think that change necessarily has to come from a pure, untainted outsider. There is, in fact, ample historical precedent for elites upending elites. Great historical figures have emerged from within the system after recognizing that substantive change was required.

But despite his belief that “people like him stand between us and Auschwitz,” Newt doesn’t fit that model. Since being ousted by his own party as Speaker, what exactly has Newt Gingrich done to demonstrate that he understands the depth of the crisis that America faces? Was it the way that he leeched millions of taxpayer funds to lobby for Freddie Mac’s subprime mortgage scheme? Was it the way that he stood beside John Kerry and Nancy Pelosi to trash men like Jim Inhofe? Was it the way that he slammed Paul Ryan as a “right-wing social engineer” for his courageous attempts to reform Medicare? Was it the way that he supported — and continues to support — every big-government scheme of the Bush years, from Medicare Pt. D to No Child Left Behind? Was it the way that, as he explained during a recent debate, he still thinks that it’s a good idea for the federal government to intervene to help low-income minorities obtain mortgages?

Newt slams the “socialist machine” but takes millions of dollars from it to lobby Congress — then turns around and slams private equity firms. He bashes the media but hob-nobs with them once the debates conclude. He preaches about the “sanctity of marriage,” yet cheated on his (second) wife during the Clinton impeachment proceedings. He hits Mitt Romney for being a “Massachusetts Moderate,” but supported the liberal Republican Dede Scozzafava over Tea Party candidate Doug Hoffman in 2010. He denounces Obamacare and Romneycare, even though he personally supported an unconstitutional, federal-level individual mandate for two decades.

Newt Gingrich is guilty of everything he accuses Mitt Romney of, ten times over. Mitt is transparently full of crap; Newt takes the art of bull to a transcendent level. He gets away with it because he plays to the anger and resentment that conservatives feel — quite rightly — toward the system. That’s all well and good — but the astounding part is that the base doesn’t even care if he means it! They seem to just want to hear it from an image on television — and this is why Newt is a bizarre confirmation of postmodern philosophy, rather than merely just another full-of-crap politician. Nothing that he says has anything to do with anything that exists — everything appealing about Newt is completely simulated. It’s not even distorted; it simply doesn’t correspond to anything. It’s just an image on a screen. It makes no sense outside of itself. Newt plays a character on TV when the debate cameras roll, and when they stop, nothing else matters. Newt’s supporters literally do not care what he actually believes.

Newt can trash private equity firms, support the same banking policies that led to the collapse, slam conservative trailblazers, support liberals for Congress, support unconstitutional health insurance mandates, cheat on his wives, and advocate breathlessly for the entitlement state — but a majority of conservatives just don’t seem to care as long as he lets John King have it.

Ultimately, Newt is not even superior to Obama: the good name of conservative governance means something, and it’s not worth sacrificing to Newt Gingrich’s bloated ego. If he somehow manages to capture the nomination, I will work to deny him the presidency, because he is right about one thing: America truly is at a crossroads, and only bold conservative leadership can keep America from decline. If we give up that quest and settle for men like him — men who got us into this mess in the first place — then everything that conservatives worked for over the last three years to erase the tainted Bush legacy will have been for naught. Conservatives have to ask themselves what it is, exactly, that we’ve been working for: is our grand prize, after all of this labor, simply watching John King cower? Or does reality still mean something?

-Alex Knepper

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Alex Knepper has written for several right-of-center blogs, including The Minority Report Blog, Race42012, and FrumForum. He writes from an individualist perspective, both politically and culturally, and characterizes his thought as being animated by a deep suspicion toward dominant institutions, ideologies, and individuals. In 2009, University Wire named him one of the best 100 student journalists in the country. His work has been discussed or excerpted in outlets such as the New York Times, The Atlantic, and NPR, and has been translated into several languages. More information can be found at his personal website, AlexKnepper.com.

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