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Aboard Donald Trump's private plane after a raucous rally late Wednesday at which the real estate mogul repeatedly lashed out at the media, Trump and Newt Gingrich "kicked around" ways that they could further his case against the media.
What emerged was a late-night tweet of an image of a children's book from the Disney film "Frozen" that included a six-sided star. It was another attempt to try to show that a tweet Trump sent over the weekend that also included a six-sided star - which was positioned atop a sea of money and had previously appeared on a website popular with white supremacists - wasn't anti-Semitic.
"Where is the outrage for this Disney book? Is this the 'Star of David' also? Dishonest media!" Trump tweeted.
That tweet unleashed a new round of criticism, both about its content and the political calculation behind it, but Gingrich defended its purpose.
"That was a very deliberate reopening of the same conversation," Gingrich said in an interview Thursday. "He has concluded that you guys in the media will kill him unless he destroys your credibility. Guaranteeing that the media is not believable is a significant building block of this campaign, as important as showing that Hillary Clinton is corrupt."
The moment was a telling sign of how the two align, especially when it comes to how to respond to controversy. It also captured the bond between Gingrich and Trump, two consummate insiders who see themselves as outsiders, if not loners, who see themselves as having never been fully embraced by "the elites," whether in Washington, D.C., or on Wall Street.
That mutual sensibility has elevated Gingrich to Trump's shortlist to become his running mate. If picked, Gingrich would function not only as a seasoned hand at Trump's side but also as his alter ego: a combative, populist-sounding politician who relishes clashes with the media and tearing into presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Another contender on Trump's shortlist, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, shares much of that profile, though Christie is considerably younger and lacks the deep roots in the party and the conservative movement that once lifted Gingrich to power. Others in the running, such as Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, are the opposite: low-key, disciplined and most comfortable when on-message.
Thus, the choice facing the presumptive Republican nominee is whether to pick someone Trump-like to underscore his disruptive pitch for change, or to go with someone who would bring a contrasting and less volatile temperament in order to win over wary voters.
Gingrich has been laboring to make his fit with Trump more seamless. In recent weeks, the former headstrong proponent of free trade has flipped his position on a front that has been the keystone of Trump's agenda. Years after helping the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) become law, he now is aligned with its loudest GOP foe.
Gingrich made clear in an interview that after spending all day Wednesday with Trump, flying together from New York to Cincinnati and back, he remains uncertain about who will be tapped to join the ticket. But he sensed that even if Trump goes in a non-Newt direction, the candidate is not going to drastically change the rapid tempo and simmering fury at the center of his campaign, as some party leaders have advised.
"The number one thing I noticed is that Trump sees himself as a genuine educator who's going to share the lessons he's learning about how the system works, as he's learning them," Gingrich said. "It's sobering to watch the audiences respond. They already believe in these messages, but they don't have the words for it. His power is in the articulation."
Though both Gingrich and Trump have been involved in Republican politics for years, their bond was formed in part in the clubhouse of Trump National Golf Club, perched on the lip of the Potomac River near the former House speaker's home in northern Virginia.
In the years before Trump launched his presidential campaign, he would occasionally fly from his home in New York to northern Virginia to play a round. He would meet with his property's managers, inspect the latest renovations, and then he would be off to the first tee, wearing a boxy, bright-red cap that's gold-stitched with the club's crest.
Hours later, Trump would appear in the club's dining room, sitting alone, rifling through his usual pile of printouts.
It was in those moments, Gingrich recalled, that they developed an easy rapport.
"It would surprise me. He'd come in from 18 holes, and then he'd stop to have dinner by himself," Gingrich said. When Trump spotted two of the club's notable members - Gingrich and his wife, Callista - "he'd send someone over and ask if we'd mind joining him. Of course we didn't mind. And we'd just go talk, not about anything in particular."
Gingrich remembers discussing the times they crossed paths at fundraisers for the Palm Beach Zoo, and of Trump talking about Mar-a-Lago or asking Gingrich about the latest buzz on Capitol Hill. They spoke of their day together on the campaign trail in 2012 when they "hung out for hours in Las Vegas before Mitt Romney lavished praise on Trump."
Even though their bond was forged at an exclusive country club, Gingrich said that Trump - or perhaps both of them together - would be an antidote to the status quo.
"The elites have it wrong," Gingrich said. "What we're watching is the intersection of a person and a popular movement, a worldwide revulsion. The contract that they abide by is collapsing and Trumpism is rage. It is rage against all of it."
Gingrich said he saw that first hand at the rally in Cincinnati, where he said Trump was "acutely aware" of his audience. As they waited backstage, Trump asked for reports on the crowd size and listened closely to the volume of the roars (and "Neeeeeewt" chants) as the attendees grew restless. By 6:30 p.m., 30 minutes before Trump was scheduled to start, Trump had heard enough.
"He told me personally to go out early. In fact, he was a little impatient because I had gotten him committed to do a Facebook live chat for a minute or two. I finally got something like 90 seconds out of him. Then he started to say, 'We've got to get out there, we've got to get out there!' " Gingrich recounted with a chuckle. "So I said, 'OK, I'm heading out there.' "
Gingrich's audition saw him try out the role of attack dog, issuing a flurry of takedowns of his enemies going back decades: the Clintons. Unfurling lines about the controversy over Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, he painted Bill and Hillary Clinton as a couple who have for years evaded legal scrutiny, one day after the FBI director offered a scathing review of Clinton's email practices but did not recommend prosecution. Gingrich called the FBI's conclusion a "total sellout of the American system" and said Clinton has "total guilt."
"Is there a single person here who believes that if you had done what Hillary Clinton had done that you would not be prosecuted?" Gingrich asked dramatically.
"No!" people yelled. Trump teased the prospect of picking Gingrich throughout his remarks. "I'm not saying anything, and I'm not telling even Newt anything," he said. "But I can tell you, in one form or another, Newt Gingrich is going to be involved with our government. That I can tell you, OK?"
Previously:
• 07/07/16: Gingrich auditions to be Trump's veep
• 06/06/16: Sanders, eyeing a 'contested convention,' urges media to hold off on calling race
• 05/23/16: Donald Trump plans to meet with Bob Corker as VP decision looms
• 05/09/16: Trump spurs some conservative leaders to step back from the GOP
• 04/22/16: GOP veepstakes begin: Candidates start building lists and vetting prospects
• 03/16/16: Rubio's demise marks the last gasp of the Republican reboot
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