Steve Kornacki explains tribalism of Gingrich’s support for Bolton

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Salon news editor Steve Kornacki on Wednesday night described Newt Gingrich’s support for former Bush administration U.N. ambassador John Bolton as “a tribal thing.”

“What he is doing here is holding up for all conservatives to see, ‘See, here is this guy who the other tribe really can’t stand, and it drives them crazy, and he’s with me,’” Kornaki explained on Countdown with Keith Olbermann. “I think the conservative tribe, as it were, really likes to hear that.”

Gingrich said he would ask ultra-conservative Bolton to be Secretary of State at a forum hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition on Wednesday.

USA Today and other news outlets said the comment could have been illegal under U.S. law, which prohibits candidates from “directly or indirectly” promising or pledging the appointment of any person, but Talking Points Memo reported that he had in fact not broken the law.

“I heard somebody make the point today, ‘You had Bush and Cheney that radically expanded the powers of the presidency, Obama who sort of consolidated that, and then now you’re going to hand it off to Newt Gingrich and John Bolton?’” Kornaki added. “Something to think about.”

Watch video, courtesy of Current TV, below: