Republican Senator Mitt Romney plans to retire from politics next year. In his party, he was one of former President Trump’s fiercest critics — and often alone in doing so.
The startling news of Mitt Romney’s resignation had barely broken when reporters swarmed the senator’s office in the Capitol. “What made you do that?” is an obvious question.
It was a decision “mainly for reasons of age,” said the tall man with distinctive gray temples: “By the end of my second term, I’ll be in my mid-80s.” His generation must now step down and make way for the younger ones.
The note was unmistakable: US President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump are currently the most promising candidates for the presidential nomination – they are 80 and 77 years old, respectively. Romney asserted:
Both Biden and Trump would do well to step aside.
“The Last Standing Conservative”
Willard Mitt Romney, born in 1947, can look back on a long, multifaceted career: lawyer and practicing Mormon, investment manager, organizer of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, governor of Massachusetts, and now until the end. His term of office, as a senator.
Romney has been struggling since Trump designed his political house. “There’s no question that today’s Republican Party is being overshadowed by Donald Trump and his populist, demagogic wing,” said liberals, calling him the “good conscience” of his party, the “last honest conservative.”
“Donald Trump wants us to believe he’s very smart. When it comes to foreign policy, for example, he’s absolutely not,” Romney criticizes. Romney made the former president his arch-enemy when he voted to convict the former head of state in both impeachment proceedings against Trump — to the chagrin of many of his party colleagues. On each occasion Trump countered with caustic malice. “Mitt was the worst candidate,” Trump says, referring to Romney’s 2012 presidential loss to Barack Obama.
When Romney ran for Senate in 2018, he said he begged Trump for a voter nomination and got down on his knees to do so. “I made more money than Mitt. One of my stores is worth more than Mitt,” Trump scolded — and more.
A lone fighter against Trump
Romney always lets the attacks roll off his back. But the lone fighter was already irritated that his old political colleagues were still not standing guard against him. Romney’s former 2012 campaign manager, Stuart Stevens, chatted on CNN: Romney was surprised more party colleagues didn’t side with him.
Other prominent Trump critics within the party, such as Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, have long since fallen by the wayside. Romney will remain true to his Senate position until next year’s election. “Would you support Trump if he became the Republican nominee?” asks a reporter. Romney’s response: “Absolutely not.”
