Why did Newt panic and join in on the attacks on Trump?
But some commentators were hired because they were supposed to have some special expertise about politics. The hope was that they would be able to tell the public whether what this or that politician or party said or did was likely to succeed or to fail, to help or to hurt the politician, the party and the country.
It must be hard to wear the two hats -- partisan and specialist -- but I suspect Newt was wearing his specialist hat when he made those comments. He was saying that tactically Trump had blundered. Now he's taking a longer view here. You can call it partisan or you can say that it reflects the bigger picture -- the level of long-term strategy, rather than that of short-term tactics.
“Why did Newt panic and join in on the attacks on Trump?”
Because Newt is a creature of the MSM. He still gets most of his information from them, digests their garbage on a daily basis and participates occasionally in their folly. But even Newt is not a stupid man and when he saw the context of POTUS’ subsequent clarification and the huge support for President Trump even he had to have a sober second thought after the hysteria and manufactured outrage settled down.
Newt broke his own rule. Noone should underestimate how smart Trump is. He thought it was a mistake and immediately abandoned ship. Ambition is made of stiffer and sterner stuff.
Old habits die hard. In his day, you had to listen to the MSM and try to make them like you. Trump has changed the game, and Newt’s still playing by the rules of the old game.