Romney: Super ambitious, but lacking in options
Wes Vernon, RenewAmerica analyst
Mitt Romney admits Donald Trump has been cleared of charges of obstructing justice. Yet he still says the president makes him "sick," even though the two men have few disagreements on policy issues.
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (whose daughter is press secretary for President Trump) tweeted, "Know what makes me sick, Mitt? Not how disingenuous you were to take @realDonaldTrump $$ and then 4 yrs later jealously trash him & then love him again when you begged to be Sec of State." (Note: When Trump was elected president, he interviewed Romney for the job of Secretary of State, and then chose someone else for the position.)
Huckabee went on, "[What] makes me sick [is] that you got [the] GOP nomination and could have been POTUS."
Huckabee finds Romney guilty of hypocrisy. Says he, "Romney has divided his time between cozying up to Trump and lambasting [him]" for supposedly straying from the principles of the founders.
Very few actual policy issues divide Romney and Trump. That there is no love lost between them, however, is self-evident.
Romney has made it clear he dislikes Trump for his "morals." Millions of Americans who may cringe at Trump's persona nonetheless back him because of his policies, and – here is the key to his connection with much of the public – his determination to see these policies through. In the final analysis, they elected the man to be president, not pastor.
What really bothers Romney is that Trump won the presidency, whereas Romney failed at his try in 2012. It's jealousy. It nags at the freshman senator from Utah that he likely would suffer a public blow-back if he were to challenge Trump in the 2020 presidential GOP primary – just as the new senator from the Beehive state is barely getting his feet wet in "the world's most exclusive club."
Senator Romney's predicament propels him to lash out at Donald Trump, the man who accomplished what he himself could not. Romney's frustration, anger,
jealousy – all these and more likely keep him awake at night. Word has it that the senator has "encountered a few bumps in the road" in his efforts at collegiality with other senators. We will see how that ultimately plays out. Meanwhile, it may occur to Utah's new senator that his best option is to focus on the job the voters elected him to do, and save the showdown with his ultimate demons for another time.
© Wes Vernon
April 23, 2019
Mitt Romney admits Donald Trump has been cleared of charges of obstructing justice. Yet he still says the president makes him "sick," even though the two men have few disagreements on policy issues.
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (whose daughter is press secretary for President Trump) tweeted, "Know what makes me sick, Mitt? Not how disingenuous you were to take @realDonaldTrump $$ and then 4 yrs later jealously trash him & then love him again when you begged to be Sec of State." (Note: When Trump was elected president, he interviewed Romney for the job of Secretary of State, and then chose someone else for the position.)Huckabee went on, "[What] makes me sick [is] that you got [the] GOP nomination and could have been POTUS."
Huckabee finds Romney guilty of hypocrisy. Says he, "Romney has divided his time between cozying up to Trump and lambasting [him]" for supposedly straying from the principles of the founders.
Very few actual policy issues divide Romney and Trump. That there is no love lost between them, however, is self-evident.
Romney has made it clear he dislikes Trump for his "morals." Millions of Americans who may cringe at Trump's persona nonetheless back him because of his policies, and – here is the key to his connection with much of the public – his determination to see these policies through. In the final analysis, they elected the man to be president, not pastor.
What really bothers Romney is that Trump won the presidency, whereas Romney failed at his try in 2012. It's jealousy. It nags at the freshman senator from Utah that he likely would suffer a public blow-back if he were to challenge Trump in the 2020 presidential GOP primary – just as the new senator from the Beehive state is barely getting his feet wet in "the world's most exclusive club."
Senator Romney's predicament propels him to lash out at Donald Trump, the man who accomplished what he himself could not. Romney's frustration, anger,
jealousy – all these and more likely keep him awake at night. Word has it that the senator has "encountered a few bumps in the road" in his efforts at collegiality with other senators. We will see how that ultimately plays out. Meanwhile, it may occur to Utah's new senator that his best option is to focus on the job the voters elected him to do, and save the showdown with his ultimate demons for another time.
© Wes Vernon
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