Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) laid out a “life or death” scenario for House Republicans heading into the 2026 midterms, when the party in the White House typically losses seats anyway, where the GOP could face a shellacking that would essentially make President Donald Trump a lame duck for the last two years of his final term.
Speaking to Fox Business on Thursday, Gingrich issued a stark warning to current GOP leadership, urging them to act quickly to deliver results for the American people—or face the political consequences. With control of the House hanging by a thread, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is working with a narrow majority, giving outsized influence to a small group of holdouts who have at times stalled the legislative process. Gingrich cautioned that if Johnson and his leadership team can’t unify their ranks in the next six months, they risk missing the opportunity to deliver a “strong economy” ahead of the 2026 elections.
“You know, Henry Kissinger told me one time that every major decision that he was involved in took 48 hours. That you weren’t quite sure when the 48 hours was going to occur, but when it came down to the crunch, it took 48 hours,” Gingrich said. “Sooner or later, the problems aren’t going to go away. We know what they are, and, I must say, I think that Chairman Guthrie, for example, Chairman Smith in the House, have really done a great job of bringing their teams together. I think you’re going to see an awful lot of conversations, and eventually over the next couple of weeks they’ll grind their way to a solution.”
Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-AL) manages the Committee on Energy and Commerce while Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) chairs the powerful Ways and Means Committee. “This is life and death for the House Republican Party because they have to have a strong economy in 2026 if they’re going to have a chance to keep their majority. If we have a bad economy next year, Republicans will not keep the House,” Gingrich added. “So the Senate doesn’t feel the same pressure, which is unfortunate.” Republicans have a 3-seat majority in the upper chamber and already, chances look good that they’ll keep it or even pick up a seat or two.
The coming months carry significant weight for President Donald Trump’s legacy, with Gingrich emphasizing that a Republican majority in the House will be crucial for Trump to secure and solidify key accomplishments during his final two years in office. “I think from the standpoint of President Trump, it’s very clear that he has to have a Republican House and Senate if he’s going to make the last two years of his term successful,” Gingrich warned. “He doesn’t want to get back to a Nancy Pelosi environment where the Democrats in the House try to screw everything up. So I think that what Speaker Johnson is trying to do is get done as early as possible in the House to put maximum pressure on the Senate, get it to conference.”
One key challenge, the former House Speaker pointed out, is the proposed $880 billion in savings through Medicaid cuts—a program often considered a political third rail. However, polling from Gingrich’s firm, the America’s New Majority Project, indicates that the public is open to reasonable, commonsense reforms.
“I think there will come a point once they clearly understand what’s going to be in the bill and once they’ve solved the Medicaid problem. And, frankly, I’ve looked at Medicaid for many, many years. And at America’s New Majority Project, we’ve done a ton of polling on Medicaid. People will accept, for example, having a work requirement. People will accept getting rid of the crooks,” Gingrich said.
He added: “People will accept not having illegal immigrants getting paid. There are a number of things you can do that are legitimate that not only don’t hurt people on Medicaid, but if you do it right, you can actually probably improve for doctors by getting rid of the 2% annual cut. You can probably help specific groups that really need help a lot.”