Trump Veepstakes Cliffhanger: Is It Newt? Is it NEWT?

Time to crank up the Trump Veepstakes Speculate-A-Tron 9000, because there's BIG NEWS that just might signal the imminent announcement that Newt Gingrich will be the Second Biggest Ego on the Republican ticket! Dig, if you will, this astonishing hint tweeted by CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter, as well as his context-filling follow-up!

Well what else could it mean other than that Newt is clearing the decks for his VeepShip? Not long after the teasing tweet, Stelter's full story went up at CNN:

Fox News had a Newt Gingrich problem -- and it just announced a solution.

The cable news channel is suspending its ties with Newt Gingrich since Gingrich is on Donald Trump's vice presidential short list.

Oh. So that's more of a "maybe," still, right? Chris Christie doesn't have to return to New Jersey just yet and pretend he has any interest in actually serving as governor, and General Wossname still has to keep practicing saying "I believe life begins at conception" with a straight face? Tell us! TELL US!

On Tuesday afternoon, a statement from the network said, "Fox News Channel has mutually agreed to suspend its contributor agreement with Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich effective immediately."

"Due to the intense media speculation about Gingrich's potential selection as Donald Trump's vice presidential candidate, we felt it best to halt his contributor role on the network to avoid all conflicts of interest that may arise," executive vice president for news Jay Wallace said.

Well, poo. That's not an answer at all. Fine, go ahead and get our hopes up like that with your "mutual agreement" and crap. There's also some blah-blah-blah in there about Newt and Fox's "ethical" troubles, because divided loyalties and stuff, but we aren't even going to quote it, because now after we've been dreaming of all the cool headlines we could write about building a wall on the moon, Trump's probably going to pick Mike Pence or someone far less entertainingly batshit, and we're just going to have a good sulk. Thanks a hell of a lot, Fox News.

 
 the resemblance is uncanny....For that matter, we won't be surprised if Trump simply announces he's chosen his Vice President based on whatever name is closest to the next critter he catches on Pokémon Go.

Which could DEFINITELY be a "Gingrich."

[ CNN Business / Brian Stelter on Twitter]