Newt Gingrich warns of major actions during President Obama's final weeks in office
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich warned that President Obama could use his final weeks in office to take major actions that will be difficult for President-elect Donald Trump to undo, saying Mr. Obama is in a “desperate frenzy” to protect his legacy.
“His legacy is like one of those dolls that, as the air comes out of it, shrinks and shrink and shrinks,” Gingrich told Fox News on Sunday. “The things he’s done this week will be turned around … He’s in this desperate frenzy.”
In recent days, Mr. Obama has issued the most pardons on a single day in U.S. history, banned oil drilling across large parts of the Arctic and Atlantic, and scrapped a national registry for immigrant men that mostly included Muslims.
Still, Gingrich said Mr. Trump will be able to quickly do away with many of Mr. Obama’s signature policies and actions.
“I think in the opening couple days, he’s going to repeal 60 to 70 percent of Obama’s legacy by simply vetoing out all of the various executive orders that Obama used because he couldn’t get anything through Congress,” he said.
As president Mr. Trump will be able to cancel or override many of Mr. Obama’s executive orders, and with a GOP-controlled Congress Mr. Trump will have the ability to push through a legislative agenda. However, things like dismantling the Affordable Care Act will likely prove difficult and take more time.
Mr. Obama nodded to that in a recent interview with NPR: asked if he had advice for Mr. Trump, Mr. Obama suggested he use the legislative process rather than executive orders to get things done because “it’s harder to undo.”
