Newt Trumprich

Donald Trump will be moderating a GOP debate on December 27th, and already, Jon Huntsman and Ron Paul have stated that they will not be attending.  Trump had a conference call with the media this afternoon about that subject and what resulted was comedy gold:

In response to Jon Huntsman’s critique, Trump said, “Well, he could use a little show business to get his ratings up, because his poll numbers are terrible … he has no chance whatsoever of getting the nomination, so it’s actually a good thing if he’s not there.”

Trump said that Ron Paul, who is not attending the Trump debate, has “zero chance” of becoming the GOP nominee. “I wonder how he would do in the private sector. He probably wouldn’t have made ten cents,” Trump remarked.

In response to Karl Rove’s criticism on Fox this morning that Trump, who is considering an independent presidential run, shouldn’t be moderating a GOP debate, Trump blasted Rove as responsible for the GOP’s woes in recent years.

“I don’t think that Karl Rove is a smart person. I think he’s highly overrated.  … He’s a man who’s only after Karl Rove,” Trump said, adding that Rove was “part of the problem with the Republican party.”

Even though Huntsman and Paul are probably right not to attend, Trump got off some of the funniest lines yet this election season.  The most interesting part though was what Trump said about Newt Gingrich, with whom he had just met before the conference call:

 “Newt Gingrich just left my office,” Trump said. “He’s a very smart man. He thought it was great. And one of the things he says was because we’ll get tremendous ratings. I happen to get great ratings, okay, if you’ve noticed.”

The great humility shown in that statement curiously mirrored another, less notable one that occurred about a year ago.  When Michael Barone asked Gingrich about the possibilities of him running for president, Newt turned to him and said, “Why wouldn’t I?”  It is striking the ways that Newt and Trump are alike...