--- title: Newt Gingrich: Donald Trump Has Been 'Very Self-Destructive' description: Newt Gingrich, who has been one of Donald Trump's most vocal supporters, said Wednesday that Trump has been "very self-destructive" recently canonical: https://time.com/4438136/newt-gingrich-donald-trump-self-destructive/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-03T22:57:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:46.767Z article:section: Politics og:title: Even Newt Gingrich Says Donald Trump Has Been 'Very Self-Destructive' og:description: "He's thrown a series of interceptions that really do not bode well for his campaign" og:url: https://time.com/4438136/newt-gingrich-donald-trump-self-destructive/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3cdb5a1fb9ca3a9/6988a10c524fc0a43ddf908e/newt-gingrich-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4879 og:image:height: 2744 og:image:alt: Republican National Convention: Day Three og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Even Newt Gingrich Says Donald Trump Has Been 'Very Self-Destructive' twitter:description: "He's thrown a series of interceptions that really do not bode well for his campaign" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3cdb5a1fb9ca3a9/6988a10c524fc0a43ddf908e/newt-gingrich-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Even Newt Gingrich Says Donald Trump Has Been 'Very Self-Destructive' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Aug 3, 2016 10:57 PM UTC  Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich delivers a speech on the third day of the Republican National Convention on July 20, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich delivers a speech on the third day of the Republican National Convention on July 20, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. John Moore/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Aug 3, 2016 10:57 PM UTC Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has been one of Donald Trump’s most vocal supporters, said Wednesday that the Republican presidential nominee has been [“very self-destructive”](http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/5069490645001/newt-gingrich-some-of-what-trump-has-done-is-very-self-destructive/?#sp=show-clips) over the [past week](http://time.com/4436481/an-unprecedented-week/). “Trump is still behaving like—as though it was the primary and there were 17 candidates. He has not made the transition to being the potential president of the United States, which is a much tougher league,” Gingrich said in an [interview](http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/5069490645001/newt-gingrich-some-of-what-trump-has-done-is-very-self-destructive/?#sp=show-clips) with Fox Business Network. “He’s not yet performing at the level that you need to.” Trump has been embroiled in controversy since he [criticized the family of a fallen Muslim soldier](http://time.com/4432816/donald-trump-khizr-ghazala-khan/) killed while serving in Iraq. **MORE** [Khizr Khan: I Feel Sorry for Republicans Who Support Donald Trump](http://time.com/4436076/khizr-khan-donald-trump-john-mccain/) “He’s thrown a series of interceptions in the last week that really do not bode well for his campaign,” said Gingrich, who was widely seen as a finalist to be Trump’s [running mate](http://time.com/4403666/fox-news-newt-gingrich-donald-trump/). In an interview this week, Trump [declined to endorse](http://time.com/4435974/donald-trump-paul-ryan-john-mccain-endorse/) Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan and Arizona Sen. John McCain in their upcoming primary elections. He had [previously insulted](http://time.com/3963685/donald-trump-john-mccain/) McCain’s military service and time as a prisoner of war. “Let me just say flatly, I am totally for John McCain, who is a great war hero and a terrific human being, who has worked very hard for veterans,” Gingrich said Wednesday. “And I am totally for Paul Ryan, who is the heart of the House Republican Party and probably the most problem-solving leader we’ve had in the Congress on the Republican side in the last 20 years, so I think some of what Trump has done is just very self-destructive. “He has enormous potential,” Gingrich added of Trump. “I would say that in the last couple weeks, he has been remarkably underperforming, and we’ll see whether or not he can take a deep breath and learn these lessons.” Gingrich later sought to clarify his remarks. “Media has wildly misinterpreted my critique of a bad week for Trump,” he [wrote on Twitter](https://twitter.com/newtgingrich/status/760941980138471426). “Trump is vastly better than Hillary \[Clinton\] as President.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4438136/newt-gingrich-donald-trump-self-destructive/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4438136/newt-gingrich-donald-trump-self-destructive/"},"headline":"Even Newt Gingrich Says Donald Trump Has Been 'Very Self-Destructive'","datePublished":"2016-08-03T22:57:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:46.767Z","description":"\"He's thrown a series of interceptions in the last week that really do not bode well for his campaign\"","url":"https://time.com/4438136/newt-gingrich-donald-trump-self-destructive/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3cdb5a1fb9ca3a9/6988a10c524fc0a43ddf908e/newt-gingrich-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3cdb5a1fb9ca3a9/6988a10c524fc0a43ddf908e/newt-gingrich-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican National Convention: Day Three","caption":"Republican National Convention: Day Three","creditText":"John Moore/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4438136/newt-gingrich-donald-trump-self-destructive/","name":"Even Newt Gingrich Says Donald Trump Has Been 'Very Self-Destructive'"}}]}] ```