Newt Gingrich: Putin is walking a 'tightrope' in Moscow

Good afternoon and live from Texas. This is the Will Cain Show. And this week, the first ever Republican midterm convention, a two-night rally that kicks off tomorrow right here in Dallas with President Trump set to take the stage. But his balancing act now is on the world stage, and that dominates headlines. A trade war with Canada that's ramping up. The Russia-Ukraine war he's hoping to wind down, and the conflict with Iran that is very much on. Fox, in fact, confirming that within the last half hour, the U.S. is currently carrying out airstrikes near Karg Island, targeting Iranian crude oil tankers. The strikes are part of a larger effort to squeeze Iran economically. Today, Trump reaffirming the U.S. effort is still, though, about one thing. We're right now fighting because we have a certain nation that wanted a nuclear weapon. They were very close to getting it, and now they have no chance of getting it. They will never have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. They've been punished greatly. As you know, we've really taken it to them. I want to compliment our military. The job they do is unbelievable. The blockade has been so powerful, so effective. Closer to home, Canada's retaliatory tariffs officially kicking in. It adds up to $20 billion in U.S. goods, ranging from 15 to 50 percent. The items included are things like milk, steel and aluminum, t-shirts, golf clubs, and household appliances. And it's accompanied by some tough talk from our neighbors up north. In the spring of last year, I warned that America is trying to break us so they can own us. And I promised that that will never, ever happen. Our future won't be decided in Washington, but right across Canada. I don't believe in escalating the conflict. That's not constructive. But our tariffs are necessary to protect our workers, protect our companies, and our communities. Trump has yet to respond, but he was in contact with a different foreign leader today. The Kremlin. The Kremlin details a call between President Trump and Vladimir Putin, calling it open and constructive, with Trump calling for a swift end to the war in Ukraine. This is after a visit from Jared Kushner and Steve Whitkoff to Kiev that prompted a pause in Russia's attacks, but one that ended as soon as they left. So joining me now on this world stage here in Dallas is former Speaker and Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich. Newt, it's great to see you. Good to be here. Let's talk first about Canada. Do we want to, does President Trump want to break Canada in order to own Canada? No, he wants to consist that Canada cannot be a trans-shipment for China. That was the ultimate deal breaker, is that the current prime minister wants to align Canada with China and would basically allow the Chinese to send goods to Canada to then be shipped into the U.S. And that was the last big part of the package. And the Canadian's present prime minister said he'd rather have a trade war than give up their ability to deal directly with China. Would Vladimir Putin then, Newt, also prefer the war in Ukraine over what appears to be the economic benefits of peace that President Trump is selling to Putin? He's selling there are benefits for you, Russia, economically, if you can end this war. But this war has been existential for Vladimir Putin. You know, I think one of the challenges for President Trump on the world stage is that he believes in an American style of reasonableness and of finding ways to get along and for all of us to succeed. I mean, all good business deals, both sides have to win. And he's dealing both in Iran and in Moscow with people who don't have that view at all. I mean, Putin's view is that he wants to destroy Ukraine. He may or may not then want to also pick up a bunch of other small countries because he wants to rebuild the Soviet empire. He's pretty open about that. And he's willing to impose enormous pain on the Russian people in order to try to do this. And I think the president consistently tries to say, can we find a way to be reasonable? And Putin basically says, this is a great conversation. Would you like some more coffee? And the answer is no, I'm not going to be reasonable. And is Putin not pot committed at this point, no matter what kind of incentive economically might exist for him in having a relationship with the United States? Is he not pot committed in poker terms to what's happening in Ukraine? In other words, if he didn't win this war, does he survive his own tenure in Russia? Well, I mean, part of the problem you get with these kind of leaders is you've had four years of war longer than the First World War. You had possibly as many as a million and a half casualties, 600,000 dead, trillions of dollars spent. How do you now say, well, you know, that was a mistake without suddenly not being the dictator anymore because you get killed? And so he's got away an internal balance of power. And he has, I think, I think he's actually walking a very narrow, tightrope now in Moscow. I think he has a lot of allies who are looking at this stuff saying it ain't working. And some of them say it ain't working. Let's be even tougher. Others are saying it ain't working. Let's find a deal. But I think that the blind support for him is diminishing. And then finally, Iran reports are that where it looks like we're hitting tankers around Karg Island, which would be another target to Iran's economy. Well, I think they've adopted the American forces have adopted a deliberate strategy of trying to cause the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, which is who owned the tankers. So they basically now probably we should have done this the opening week. They basically now said, you want to pick a fight? You're going to get poorer and poorer. But again, it goes back to my earlier point. As a historian, when you're dealing with religious fanatics who have since 1978, 79 said death to America, there's a pretty high likelihood that what they actually mean is death to America. So trying to find a way to get to a deal is really hard because people who are in charge proved last January, February, they killed 47,000 Iranians. I mean, the world didn't quite notice that it wasn't genocide because it was just left wing revolutionary guards killing Iranians, but 47,000. And I think they are prepared to do whatever it takes, no matter how poor they get. And the question will be, do other elements of the Iranian government finally literally rebel in a civil war and take out the Revolutionary Guard? Or in fact, if they have all the guns, do they just keep hanging in no matter what? Describing himself accurately as a historian, Newt Gingrich is going to stick around with us. I'm going to use that historian card in just one moment.