Mitt Romney is the poster child for the acronym RINO — Republican in Name Only.
The former Republican nominee for president and current senator from Utah showed his true colors again in an Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal, where he outlined his strategy for ensuring that Donald Trump does not win the Republican Party’s nomination for president.
The Op-Ed titled “Donors, Don’t Fund a Trump Plurality,” and subtitled, “As in 2016, Republican candidates won’t drop out soon enough. Here’s how to give them a push,” outlined Romney’s strategy to push out candidates that may dilute the vote, essentially turning the primaries into a two-person race.
“Megadonors and influencers—large and small—are going to have to do something they didn’t do in 2016: get candidates they support to agree to withdraw if and when their paths to the nomination are effectively closed,” Romney wrote in his Wall Street Journal piece.
“That decision day should be no later than, say, Feb. 26, the Monday following the contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina,” he added.
Mitt Romney published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on Monday pleading with the powerbrokers of his own party not to repeat what he sees as the mistakes of the 2016 GOP primary, which led to Donald Trump’s shock win of the nomination.
Romney began by noting that “a baker’s… pic.twitter.com/YGY0590VIk
— David Croom – (ツ) (@dailycallout) July 24, 2023
The New York Post reported Saturday that “if the 2024 Republican presidential primary were held today, Trump would win with 52% of voters.”
This means that even if all Republican votes not cast for Trump were combined and given to the opposing party, Trump would still emerge as the winner.
Additionally, according to the Post report, in a head-to-head matchup against Biden, Trump is projected to win with a margin of 45 to 40 percent, with 16 percent of voters undecided.
Do you trust Mitt Romney?
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These favorable odds of victory against the Democratic candidate raise the question: Why would Romney push for another candidate to win the primaries against Trump?
Why ask big donors to pull their support from their chosen candidate in the primaries in an attempt to consolidate support for an alternative to Trump?
Fox New’s Laura Ingraham summed it up when she addressed Romney after his impeachment vote against Trump. Referring to him as “the ultimate selfish, preening, self-centered politician,” Ingraham continued, “Mitt, you made your stand. Now you should resign. You committed a fraud on the people of Utah, on the Republican Party, on the Constitution, and have thoroughly embarrassed yourself. If I have to move there to run against him in four and a half years, I will,” she said.
Washington State Republican candidate for Congress Jerrod Sessler, who is running against one of the 10 Trump-impeaching Republicans, Rep. Dan Newhouse, commented on Romney’s Wall Street Journal Op-Ed calling him a “turncoat.”
Interesting read from turncoat @MittRomney. The gag-like reaction happened when he said “Our party and our country need a nominee with character…”https://t.co/noAONz6Dxe
We do need to replace establishment characters including my incumbent opponent, @RepNewhouse along with…
— Jerrod Sessler for Congress ’24 (@jerrod4congress) July 26, 2023
In a tweet, Sessler pointed out the need to “replace establishment characters” who do not have the best interests of the party at heart.
“If you’re not tirelessly passionate about serving the needs of the people then [it’s] time to go home,” Sessler said.
Trump himself called out the Utah senator in a tweet in 2020, writing, “Had failed presidential candidate @MittRomney devoted the same energy and anger to defeating a faltering Barack Obama as he sanctimoniously does to me, he could have won the election. Read the Transcripts!”
Had failed presidential candidate @MittRomney devoted the same energy and anger to defeating a faltering Barack Obama as he sanctimoniously does to me, he could have won the election. Read the Transcripts!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 6, 2020
In a speech at CPAC in 2020, Trump talked about how the Republicans stuck together, except Romney, referring to him as a “lowlife.”
WATCH: Trump just called Mitt Romney a “LOW-LIFE” at CPAC pic.twitter.com/qVVwPiwDYY
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) February 29, 2020
We have a chance in the next election to make choices in national races that are bigger than personal preferences or a few state-level policies that benefit us personally.
As we see our nation devolving, it is time to make decisions that go beyond selfish, self-serving attitudes.
Mitt Romney has shown us time and time again that he is willing to turn against party and nation to feed his own ego.
“Our party and our country need a nominee with character, driven by something greater than revenge and ego, preferably from the next generation,” Romney wrote in his Op-Ed. “Family, friends and campaign donors are the only people who can get a lost-cause candidate to exit the race. After Feb. 26, they should start doing just that.”
Romney is right about one thing. Our country does need candidates with character.
Maybe in the next election, the people of Utah can vote for a senator who has some.
