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On Irrelevance: Mitt Romney and NeverTrump
Mitt Romney has been able to make himself feel relevant again, for a fleeting moment, to the class that really matters to him. The major media network NBC, its baby sister known as MSNBC, as well as CNN have all declared him a “profile in courage”. All those who hate the existence of Donald Trump, because he has proven to actually be relevant, are allowing Romney another five minutes or so of self-delusion before he will again fade back into their midst. When tested his conservatism wasn’t that severe after all.
We all want to feel relevant to those that matter most to us. Sometimes the key to our inner peace is the honest definition of what they are. And yes, they can change depending on our rate of maturity or insight.
Yesterday, February 5, 2020, was not the first time we have seen Romney buckle when faced with being an outcast from the class where he feels the warmest. It came in front of us all in a televised debate. He allowed himself to be cowed by a biased “journalist” whose name we can barely recall from pressing the very relevant point that the Obama administration had willfully abandoned Americans to die in a foreign land.
I still waver back and forth about the relationship between the so-called modern progressive Democrat Party and the bulk of the media. The only question is which one is really pulling the wagon and which one is holding the reins. But they both belong to the same class, the political class. The media, those who “serve” throughout the administrative state, those who chase elective office and those who find it warm and safe to thoughtfully stroke their chins while being pundits to others who thoughtfully nod are all in the same class. One can have a safe membership in this class if they understand their place. Far too many of what I have come to call “professional conservatives” cherish that membership.
While some can make an honest argument about parts of Donald Trump’s persona, his real sin has been that he has challenged the relevance of these class members, and he has exposed it.
They consider Trump a class apart. And so does he.
Romney did not hesitate to court Trump for the position of Secretary of State. A simple “search” can find the picture of them having dinner together as the former candidate graciously offered to help guide the successful candidate through the forests of foreign policy, perhaps adding a needed touch of professionalism to this peasant uprising.
But his offer was rejected. And somewhere in all of this Donald Trump was “classless” enough to point out that Romney himself had lost a race that was winnable. But that would have required him tearing up his membership card.
Despite turning into a Never-Trumper after the rejection, Romney again did not hesitate to ask for the president’s endorsement in the 2018 Senate race in Utah. That is the Utah he had just recently moved to where there was an empty seat. President Trump endorsed him and was rewarded with an immediate flip by Romney back to Never-Trumper status.
Mitt’s feelings might not have been that different from those of his father from whom the younger Romney inherited his class membership card. George Romney must not have been too comfortable with having a B actor from Hollywood invading the realm. He, like most of the “establishment” GOP, undercut him whenever possible.
Reagan was relevant. There were real outcomes from his conservatism. But because of that he could never be fully accepted by the political class.
Donald Trump is relevant. Things actually change and move. And all that change and movement makes it oh-so apparent how really irrelevant the professional pundits and political class “conservatives” have been – for decades.
All that change and movement are also poison to another division of that political class, the dominate one. It is what I have come to call the Saul Alinsky members. They have had their way for some time now. The America of today is distinctly different from the America of 1900 because of them. There are times when the ball moves more slowly than others but they know that the compliant members from the lower “conservative” division will not risk their status by actually changing the entire course. This division is panicked by a serious change of direction and real outcomes. The more outcomes, the more desperate they are.
But these Alinskites are even more desperate because they now have a serious challenge from an even more overtly radical division. Their rise makes the issue of re-electing Donald Trump even more important for those intent on preserving the principles and vision of the Founding.
In the final analysis, all members of the political class have a real problem with the relevance of the agenda that the peasants were finally able to move forward by voting for an impolite outsider. That agenda had been either ignored or slow-walked by all certified (or is that certifiable?) members of the political class which pushed the grass-roots Tea Party to the corner. It is that agenda they hate most of all.
Romney’s vote was against that agenda and against the Constitution which protects it. That vote will get him a pat on the back from the Georgetown crowd and a brief clap from a media that would gladly turn on him in a second. But it is the relevance of that agenda that has to survive for the sake of that Constitution.
Published in General
Mitt who?
Seriously. Let’s move on.
He’s history.
Only achievement is he united the Left and Right in loathing him.
Mitt Romney in his re-election bid:
Trump probably would have fired him too. The people in the State Department think of foreign policy as belonging to them, when the truth is it belongs to the President.
And by the way, how do you like Romney blaming his faith for his decision? Slick, but terribly dishonest . . .
In line with your reasoning, I believe that’s why the TEA party was so hated. They actually wanted to do something. I have also long held the suspicion that if the pro-life cause were to win a decisive victory that some politicians would be without a reason for conservatives to vote for them, so they nibble around the edges and bring up “Constitutional” concerns (scare quotes very intentional) about pro-life legislation even before the other side has started talking.
The polling shows that the majority of the more religious Mormons in Utah support Trump.
So we are to believe that Romney is smarter and more honest then his party and more religious then his voters.
I’m beginning to think the brilliance trait for the Presidency is very overrated. Carter was brilliant, Clinton brilliant, Obama brilliant. Regan and Trump (and Scott Walker) seem to have more of a grasp on leadership. Clinton did have good political instincts and was able to be moderate.
You guys are exhibiting the same distrust and suspicion of Sen. Romney’s motives, and the same type of underlying animus, that I believe led him to believe the worst about the President.
Everyone who disagrees with us is not a treacherous sellout. I think that they are just incorrect, and often misled.
This man who is defending Joe Biden’s attempts to make Ukraine more corrupt could have become Secretary of State? There’s a frightening thought.
True, but placing personal animus above doing the right thing is. Acquitting Trump was so obviously the right thing, I can only conclude Romney pulled a McCain. I hope Utah gets started on a recall petition . . .
Romney became the first Senator in US History to vote to impeach a President of his own Party.
Historically speaking that makes him something of a sellout.
“Severely Conservative” Romney accepted the arguments and the process of the Democrats and rejected the every argument of the Republicans.
People of good faith can disagree. I am really looking and can’t find good faith in Romney, he has made no secret of his dislike of Trump. It just looks petty.
If Collins had done this I might get it. She is moderate but does not have the same bad blood that there appears to be between Romney and Trump. I could more easily accept she acted in good faith.
That’s the Arlen Specter line.
Romney transformed into Arlen Specter so slowing that I hardly even noticed.
Having Romney as a senator from Massachusetts would be one thing. It’s almost impossible to get a Republican senator elected there, but Utah is just about the most conservative state. It’s just like First Lady of Arkansas Hillary Clinton running in New York state instead of Arkansas. Even Elizabeth Warren might be more respected if she had been elected from her former states of Oklahoma or Texas.
The carpetbagger move showed absolutely no courage.
Hmm, I wonder if Jonah Goldberg will ever be able to talk to Ben Sasse again after this vote…
Who is Andre the Giant?
From June 9, 2017, CNN:
And this:
And in 2+ years, things have changed. I find the response by the “right” media to be very sad. Mitt Romney is as good and decent man that you will find. Perhaps a bit pragmatic for some, but honest.And he is very relevant to the citizens of Utah who elected him. The country which he serves.I find the notion that if you do not support Trump, and even disagree with Trump, that people will be gunning for you to be quite disturbing.And yes, Romney did say gracious things about Pres. Trump during the selection process.This from Dec. of 2016 (Chicago Tribune) is interesting.
Mitt Romney is as good and decent man that you will find.
To me he will always be Pierre Delecto.
Or my name isn’t Turd Ferguson.
There was some talk of Romney only wanting a single term, but that seems contradicted by his comments this last summer, reported in the Deseret News, “Mitt Romney 2024?”
Romney won the primary with President Trump’s endorsement:
His posture is indirectly challenged by a professor from BYU in the Deseret News.
Oh I think so. Jonah wrote approvingly of Ben Sasse the following:
“Now all that is left of this circus is for the Republican senators to finish their speeches and fold up the tent. What was otherworldly has suddenly become grounded. Senators Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.) and Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) were the first out of the block to explain that the president is guilty but shouldn’t be ousted for it.
“In a statement, Rubio explained that he always worked from the assumption the charges were true, but: ‘Just because actions meet a standard of impeachment does not mean it is in the best interest of the country to remove a President from office.’
“Alexander was even more emphatic. In his statement, he said the House managers ‘have proved [the charges] with what they call a “mountain of overwhelming evidence.”’
“Senator Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) agreed with Alexander’s position, telling reporters that he speaks for ‘lots and lots of us.’
“Senator Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska) went even further this week, saying, rightly, that the president’s conduct has been ‘shameful and wrong.’”
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/02/trump-impeachment-long-term-consequences-republicans/
Worth noting: during the Reagan and Bush years, Romney could not bring himself to register Republican. He called himself an Independent. He only switched to Republican a few months before declaring his intent to run against Ted Kennedy. In other words, he did it because it was the road to achieving high office. If Ted Kennedy had been a Republican, Romney would have called himself Democrat. (He had a history of voting for Democrats prior to his adopting the Republican label.)
A “Reagan Republican” he is not. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.
I’m going with treacherous sellout until I get more data.
And sort of a backhanded way of suggesting the other Republican Senators were faithless sinners.
Delectobility.
Most assuredly. He has always reminded me of the duplicitous Eddie Haskell from “Leave it to Beaver.” If you’ve never watched that show, you don’t know what I’m talking about, but if you have, you know exactly what I mean.
And that’s not even accounting for his flip-flops. Romney was Obama before Obama was Obama.
Reagan was a Democrat for long a while, until Jack Welch introduced him to GE factories across the country and Reagan saw what American businesses were dealing with.
There was a whole movement of Democrats into the Republican Party over pro-life issues and school choice issues.
I don’t know why you’d hold it against Mitt Romney that he wasn’t involved in politics as a young person. He liked the Massachusetts Democrat Paul Tsongas–a lot of people did. That’s what finally lured Mitt Romney into politics. Romney was an independent for a very short time. The largest group of registered voters in Massachusetts has always been independents, not Democrats.
I just don’t see what difference it makes that he was not registered as a Republican at some points in his political life.
Because he stands for nothing. Nothing except his own power and prestige. He’s the perfect example of the man who will do anything or side with anyone if it advances his status.
This is not the truth. No one fought harder than Mitt Romney against the gay adoption bill. From the article you cite:
One of Romney’s dearest friends and most ardent supporters throughout the gay rights initiatives in Massachusetts was our own Cardinal O’Malley.
As far as gay marriage is concerned: there was nothing he could do. He was facing a Democratic Party legislature. He did speak to Congress and ask them to address it on a national level. He has never been in favor of gay marriage. He has spoken on this subject often. There’s not much he can do when it is the law of the land.
As for the ObamaCare–you have been duped by the mainstream media and Barack Obama and the Democrats who hung Obama’s 3,000-page healthcare reform bills around Romney’s neck. It succeeded. I can tell you with the utmost confidence that there was nothing in Massachusetts that even remotely resembled the ObamaCare bills. The only things in Obama’s bills that were inspired by Romney’s work to reform the healthcare insurance system for low-income people in Massachusetts was (a) the creation of a website where low-income people could buy low-cost private insurance and (b) the individual mandate, which was a tax assessed on young people who did not or could not afford private insurance. It wasn’t an onerous tax when it was passed–it was a few hundred dollars. That’s it. That’s all it was. I didn’t like the idea, but the voters in Massachusetts did, as was their right to do.
The animus toward Mitt Romney among Republicans is something I will never understand. It is based on gossip and fake news.
I get that people are angry at him for his opposition to President Donald Trump. But the rest of it is just ridiculous.
Who is Andre the Giant?