Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich slammed those Republicans demanding that Donald Trump quit as the GOP presidential nominee, telling Fox News after the second debate in St. Louis, saying, "They have a lot of egg on their face, because the guy who showed up for the debate tonight… clearly has earned being the Republican nominee."

Gingrich said that Trump made his points so well during the debate that "it's kind of crazy for someone to suggest dumping him at this point, and I would hope a lot of those who panicked over the weekend would reconsider their position in light over what we have learned about Hillary through WikiLeaks and the importance of stopping her from truly crippling the country."

After the first presidential debate, the former House speaker was critical of Trump, telling The New York Times that he "has to decide that the presidency is worth drilling into," referring to his lack of preparation for the encounter.

But following the second encounter with Clinton, Gingrich emphasized to Fox News that "Trump came in prepared to go as hard as he needed to. I think he stayed nose to nose with her all evening and I think that she steadily lost . . .

"He was very fast, and I think very good in coming back on a number of occasions and basically totally outmaneuvering her in terms of language, examples, bringing her own record to bear," Gingrich added.

Gingrich also stressed that the prospects for Trump in the third and last debate are good.

"I don't see how anybody could look at tonight's debate and say it did not have a very significant amount of substance and policy differentiation that was far more than I think you got in the first debate.

"Trump did much better tonight. If he improves as much over tonight as he did over the first night, the third debate will just be so one-sided it'll be embarrassing."

Gingrich also said he was confident that Trump would end up winning the White House, despite all the media bias against him. He had told CNN before the debate that it was clear the media is acting like a lynch mob regarding the Trump video from 2005 in which he used lewd language to describe women, while ignoring the latest controversies about Clinton revealed by WikiLeaks.