He seemed to be one of the less-MAGA Republicans at times and voted to convict Trump in 2020, though he also gushed over Donald and seemed to be angling for a Cabinet post-perhaps Secretary of State-when the plum jobs were being handed out. I wonder who will take his spot. From what little I’ve read, Mormons aren’t especially enthusiastic about Trump.
Article here: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/13/gop-sen-mitt-romney-says-he-will-not-run-for-reelection.html
Well, we know it won’t be a Democrat.
I’d settle for another John Manchin-esque person. Though hopefully less annoying.
Or Joe Manchin, either. The Dems should run a conservative candidate who is anti-Trump, anti-Maga against a pro-Trump GOPer. Might pick up a seat.
Dr. Oz is available and willing to travel.
Would they be mad at their governor applying for the job. ?
Dangit!
Doesn’t surprise me. Romney is rich as hell. Why would he want to be part of the Trump Mess that 2024 will be? Whether Trump wins or loses, Romney would be stuck in the middle of the morass.
Give it up, and enjoy his massive wealth while the rest of the world burns.
That’s my plan.
Now, back to work on the massive wealth part…
A reporter on MSNBC reported something similar, that if Romney had run the Dems wouldn’t even oppose. But there’s a MAGA mayor making noise about running (so is the AG), and if the mayor runs, the Dems would think hard about running an appropriate candidate to oppose.
This is just the break the McMullin campaign has been waiting for!
Utah Democrats decided not to run a nominee against Sen Mike Lee last year, endorsing Independent Evan McMullin. He lost by ten points. You can only refuse to run in so many races if you still want to be taken seriously as a political party.
I don’t know if Romney could have won his primary. Democrats ought to look for a “conservative” Mormon Democrat to run, just on the off chance that the Republican candidate turns out to be a beatable MAGA nut.
With the announcement of Romney’s intention retire, the Atlantic released this preview of their November issue.
Some quotes:
Romney sends his text: “In case you have not heard this, I just got a call from Angus King, who said that he had spoken with a senior official at the Pentagon who reports that they are seeing very disturbing social media traffic regarding the protests planned on the 6th. There are calls to burn down your home, Mitch; to smuggle guns into DC, and to storm the Capitol. I hope that sufficient security plans are in place, but I am concerned that the instigator—the President—is the one who commands the reinforcements the DC and Capitol police might require.”
McConnell never responds.
“A very large portion of my party,” he told me one day, “really doesn’t believe in the Constitution.” He’d realized this only recently, he said. We were a few months removed from an attempted coup instigated by Republican leaders, and he was wrestling with some difficult questions. Was the authoritarian element of the GOP a product of President Trump, or had it always been there, just waiting to be activated by a sufficiently shameless demagogue? And what role had the members of the mainstream establishment—people like him, the reasonable Republicans—played in allowing the rot on the right to fester?
Perhaps Romney’s most surprising discovery upon entering the Senate was that his disgust with Trump was not unique among his Republican colleagues. “Almost without exception,” he told me, “they shared my view of the president.” In public, of course, they played their parts as Trump loyalists, often contorting themselves rhetorically to defend the president’s most indefensible behavior. But in private, they ridiculed his ignorance, rolled their eyes at his antics, and made incisive observations about his warped, toddlerlike psyche. Romney recalled one senior Republican senator frankly admitting, “He has none of the qualities you would want in a president, and all of the qualities you wouldn’t.”
I guess there’s no turning back now.
I might actually read that book.
Time for Romney to name names.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant and Mittens knows this… but I’m not expecting a profile in courage from him. Gave up on that from the “mainstream Republicans” in 2016.
That possiblity doesn’t exist in Utah. A MAGA Republican (but I repeat myself) is the only viable candidate in that state. It’s a waste of money and resources to put up someone else.
I read the book excerpt in The Atlantic earlier today and it was interesting. Like John McCain, Romney is a person I largely disagree with and would not vote for, but they do have some principles. As that expression goes, I think they’re ‘wrong within normal parameters’.
But I also came away thinking, couldn’t he have done more while he was there? Seems like a lot of politicians suddenly find their spine and voice once they’re no longer in power. Understandable at a basic level, I suppose, but I still consider it cowardly.
That said… COULD Romney have done more? He’s still got a year before he leaves, so can he take any meaningful action in that time? Can he do anything to restore what he sees as sanity in the Senate and politics overall?
Have you been paying attention? You did notice Romney winning that seat five years ago, no? Utah is way too conservative for MAGA to gain much traction, there.
Yes and he’d lose today, which is why he’s packing it up.