Shortly after the 2022 midterm elections, Senator Mitt Romney was asked if he could support Donald Trump’s comeback bid. “Absolutely not,” the Utah Republican said, adding that he would oppose the former president in both the primary and general elections.
“It’s not just because he’s losing,” Romney said. ‘It is [that] he is simply not someone who should be in charge of the United States government.”
A year later, the Utahns went further. “I will not vote for former President Trump. I must admit that I consider sexual violence to be a line I will not cross with the people I select as my president,” the senator said, pointing to the E. Jean Carroll case.
As the 2024 election cycle took shape, Romney made little effort to hide his disdain for his party’s presidential nominee, even publicly marveling at Trump’s willingness to lie.
With all this in mind, is there any chance the outgoing lawmaker will support Trump’s opponent? Apparently not. As my MSNBC colleague Clarissa-Jan Lim reported:
Senator Mitt Romney again declined to say whether he will vote for Kamala Harris in the election, suggesting that his restraint now will allow him to have some influence over the direction of the Republican Party in a hypothetical post-Trump future.
“I have made it very clear that I do not want Donald Trump to be the next president of the United States,” Romney said at an event this week. “I want to continue to have a voice in the Republican Party after this election. I think there’s a good chance that the Republican Party will need to be rebuilt or reoriented.”
The senator further said, “I believe I will have more influence in the party if I say it the way I said it.”
There are a few problems with this. First, it’s hard to justify Romney saying he wants Trump to lose while at the same time opposing supporting the only candidate standing between Trump and the White House. If the Utahn needs further clarification on this, I refer him to the recent comments of former Republican Liz Cheney.
For another, Romney could be very good want to to have “a voice” and “influence” in GOP politics in the future, but Trump clearly intends to prevent this.
At his final campaign rally in Pennsylvania, the former president not only called the senator “stupid,” Trump added, “What about him? How do you feel about having him as a partner? Mitt Romney? Aren’t we glad we’re getting him out of here?’
The crowd, predictably, cheered in approval.
There’s nothing wrong with a retired politician looking for ways to maintain his influence as he heads for the exit, but if Romney is serious about making a real difference, he’d be better off endorsing Trump’s rival instead of looking for ways to steer. a Trump-led Republican Party.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
