Democrats have the majority in the U.S. House, while Republicans control the U.S. Senate. The bodies don’t agree on much, and legislation moves very slowly if at all.
This degree of hyper-partisanship has seemed to be constant over the past several decades, and that’s mostly true. But the man given the credit — or blame — for turning congressional politics into a zero-sum game hasn’t been in office since 1999.
Newt Gingrich’s impact is still deeply felt more than 20 years later. Julian Zelizer chronicles that and Gingrich’s history in the book "Burning Down the House: Newt Gingrich, the Fall of a Speaker and the Rise of the New Republican Party."
The Show spoke to Zelizer for what he learned about Gingrich's motivations.
