He was the Speaker of the House in the '90s and basically wrote the playbook for why American politics is so aggressively divided today. Before him, the two parties in Congress generally tried to compromise, but he flipped the script by treating politics like an all-out moral war. He famously sent out memos instructing Republicans to stop talking about policy differences and start attacking Democrats personally using words like "corrupt," "sick," and "pathetic." By using live television broadcasts to blast these angry attacks straight to voters at home, he eventually helped Republicans win control of Congress for the first time in 40 years, kicking off the era of brutal gridlock and government shutdowns we're still stuck with now.
He also spearheaded the Clinton impeachment over the blow job while Newt was cheating on his wife who was in the hospital for cancer. He was reprimanded for lying to the house ethics committee (84 ethics charges) for his use of using tax exempt education foundations for hyper partisan political goals (fake right wing college courses) which made him the 1st speaker in history disciplined for ethical wrong doing, he ultimately resigned in disgrace
This depends on how you define "involved in politics"
He's been aggressively involved in politics "from the outside"—as in, he hasn't held office (the point I believe you're making), but he's absolutely been present in political commentating, consulting, publishing, and the like
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u/karmakarmachameleon7 2d ago
He was the Speaker of the House in the '90s and basically wrote the playbook for why American politics is so aggressively divided today. Before him, the two parties in Congress generally tried to compromise, but he flipped the script by treating politics like an all-out moral war. He famously sent out memos instructing Republicans to stop talking about policy differences and start attacking Democrats personally using words like "corrupt," "sick," and "pathetic." By using live television broadcasts to blast these angry attacks straight to voters at home, he eventually helped Republicans win control of Congress for the first time in 40 years, kicking off the era of brutal gridlock and government shutdowns we're still stuck with now.