Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker and Trump surrogate told Fox and Friends that Madonna "ought to be arrested for saying she has thought about blowing up the White House."
The pop superstar dropped a couple of f-bombs and made those comments during a speech she gave at the Women's March on Saturday.
I'd say people should refrain from this kind of talk overall.
Of course Madonna was being sarcastic about her thoughts since she followed them up by saying, "I know, it won't change anything."
Newt was riled up because women around the world decided to have a massive rally at Donald Trump's expense.
The statistics likely have Newt really alarmed. Because to be fair, Newt Gingrich is not stupid when it comes to seeing political writing on the wall. And the writing on the wall about this Womens March is bad, really bad, for Republicans:
*Conservatives have been trying to push the narrative that the women marchers were destroying public property, burning cars and ransacking businesses and Gingrich said, "She is parallel to the young fascists who ran around town breaking windows, all of whom should be given the maximum sentence."
He continued, "Frankly, the truth is she ought to be arrested for saying she has thought about blowing up the White House.”
As Alex Griswold points out, "Under U.S. case law, threats and incitement are only illegal when they are considered “true threats” with actual violent intent behind them, not just political hyperbole (elsewise a great many celebrities and political observers would find themselves in the slammer)."
Newt knows better than this. He also knows what keeps the Fox News paycheck coming.
Update: Madonna also clarified her remarks in a statement.
"I am not a violent person, I do not promote violence and it's important people hear and understand my speech in its entirety rather than one phrase taken wildly out of context," she wrote. "My speech began with 'I want to start a revolution of love'."
*Editor's note: There were no arrests at the Women's Marches. Gingrich was conflating arrests made on Inauguration Day in an effort to demean and denigrate the huge, historic turnout on Saturday.
