Mark Levin asks Newt Gingrich where Donald Trump fits into conservatism. Here's his answer

Sunday night, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich joined LevinTV host Mark Levin on his Fox News program, "Life, Liberty & Levin," to discuss the trajectory of conservatism and where President Donald Trump fits in the history of the conservative movement.

Gingrich, a historian, began with the beginning, noting how the modern conservative movement was a reaction to the New Deal and the activist Warren court. Personified in Sen. Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz., this movement said the government was too big, taxes were too high, and the Soviet Union was a threat to freedom. He discussed the successes of Ronald Reagan's presidency, which accomplished great things including "defeating the Soviet empire" without a war, "relaunching the American economy," and focusing on "American civic culture." He also recounted his conservative achievements as speaker of the House in the 1990s, including welfare reform and forcing President Bill Clinton to admit "the era of big government is over."

On President Trump, Gingrich told Levin that he may not be a conservative as much as he is an anti-leftist.

"I'm not sure [Trump is] a conservative, but he's the most effective anti-liberal in my lifetime," Gingrich said. "And whether it's deregulation, or conservative judges, or cutting taxes, or standing up for an American foreign policy based on American values, every time you turn around, he is instinctively saying things which drive the Left crazy."

"He's doing it, I think, because of this notion of common sense and the things he learned a long time ago. Again, he's old enough, he remembers the values of the post-WWII highly patriotic America," Gingrich continued.

"In a lot of ways he's carrying forward, almost as a grandfather, the values of two generations ago and taking head-on the left-wing radical values which the academic world, the news media, and Hollywood have tried to impose on the country."

Editor's note: The title of this article has been changed for clarity.

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