The week
I was wrong about Mitt Romney
The Donald Trump phenomenon is said to have divided friendships, families and even marriages. I can attest to this fact in my own suburban Washington household, for this perhaps peculiar professional reason: He asked my wife, who was suffering at all times, and approx. I asked a thousand times if I finally felt bad to mean what I said about Mitt Romney. The short answer is yes! Romney, who is now a junior senator in Utah, has shown rare courage and integrity in this year of hell. Only among Republican senators (indeed, only among one senator in history) did he cross party lines to vote to condemn President Trump on charges of abuse of power because he urged a foreign government to interfere in our election. And – not exactly alone, but in hardly abundant company – he directly condemned the President for stoning the Biden transition and undermining our democracy. These actions took real courage. If I wore a cap, I would rule it out; if I met Romney in person, I would thank her. I applaud him with this virtual pen in my hand. However: The long answer to the above question… Hell not! Let me explain why I broke up. First, it is essential to remember how radically different our political situation was before the Times. The downright big fanaticism and racism of the 2016 Trump campaign has not yet been thought of, let alone assimilated; for decades, these things were alluded to, dog-whistled, winked — but in no open sense were they on the menu given to Republican primary voters. Consequently, it must be said that it is foolish to retroactively credit the party’s data because they are not behaving so badly. So, what was it that blamed so badly on the mainstream, milquetoast Mitt? In 2007 and 2008, Romney, then the governor of the moderate governor of Massachusetts (and the son of a famously moderate governor of Michigan) ran a primary campaign that, I maintain to this day, was dismissive. The reason for this was that John McCain (who finally won the GOP nomination after a tumultuous summer in ’07) was too sharp. Too often, he has compromised with the Democrats (Russ Feingold on campaign finance reform; Ted Kennedy on immigration; Joe Lieberman on climate change). I understand the crucial importance of strategy in winning pre-selection when it comes to turning to the base before turning the middle. But, as I said then, and I will say it again now, I am unwilling to listen to such a call from the mainstream of the Mitt milquetoast. He did not play the role of conservative gentleman easily; he plays as he plays everything, rigidly. The plot failed. He deserved to fail. Then came 2012. Romney was now something of a frontrunner. He lost the 2008 pre-election – but McCain also, very badly, in the general election against President Obama. Now, as is customary in Republican politics, it was Mitt Romney’s turn. So now he had to put back attempts to protect the right wing. Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee (forget someone? It feels like I’m forgetting someone!) – they all made their recordings on Romney; all revealed weaknesses or wounded; and they all failed one after another, as they had four years before. Without the help of Google, I remember calling Romney an “avas fictitious” (laughter!). With the help of Google, I see that I called his 2012 campaign “breathtakingly cynical, cross-border nihilist” (I haven’t seen anything yet!). I didn’t forget about the catastrophic 47 percent video. And I’m sure I didn’t forget the way Romney came together during the first acts of the Benghazi fiasco (a reminder: he was really breathtakingly cynical). But to the benefit of both the aftermath and the five-year-old Donald Trump, here’s what I understood Mitt Romney, a man of obviously high character and fundamental honesty, which wasn’t clear to me at the time, but should have been: He was trying to unite a party that was morally divided. at the seams. Romney could really make sure he was thirsting for a demagogue like Trump (whose approval, it should be noted, Romney accepted). “It’s very easy to excite the base with incendiary remarks,” he said in February 2012. “During the campaign, we saw that if he was willing to say really outrageous things that accuse him and attack President Obama, he was going to jump up in the vote. You know, I’m not willing to light my hair to get support. I’m who I am.” Then he had the courage to say that. .All the words of the speech were born of the reality of the Trump government, not only of Trump’s warped character – but of the red flags that indicate Trump’s desire for a trade war and embracing his huge debts.Of course, since it was Romney Romney, to dine under Trump during the transition., a disguise for a possible secretary of state appointment.Probably humiliated Romney ok. But this was the last time. Very on his own shingles, Romney won a Senate seat in Utah. From then on, he became one of the bravest and most constructive voices in Republican politics. And while I may regret the excessive tone of my criticisms of Mitt Romney’s past, I can say that I look forward to applauding him more often in the future. Not quite. Instead: Go, Mitt, go! More stories from the week Trump can’t stand it. Maggie Haberman, a NYT reporter, said Trump’s tweet is “the closest to the concession” that the secret service is supposedly preparing for Trump’s “post-presidential life.”
