Newt Gingrich, the Yacht Club Candidate

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Was Newt Gingrich’s comment about Barack Obama being a “food stamp president” a racist dog whistle? For chrissake. Of course it was. But I’m a little curious about why he’s only now getting so much attention for it. Back in October 2010 Gingrich said that Democrats are “earning the title of the party of food stamps.” In May 2011 he called Obama “the most successful food stamp president in American history” (and David Gregory called him out for using “coded racially-tinged language.”) I don’t know if it goes back even farther than that, but this has certainly been a well-honed applause line of his for at least the past year or so. It was no off-the-cuff zinger.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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