'Bitter' Romney Slams Enough Republicans in New Book That He Almost Sounds Like a Democrat
With Republicans like Mitt Romney, who needs Democrats?
As you may have heard, Romney isn’t running for re-election to his Utah Senate seat in 2024. As you also may have heard, the RINO par excellence is unburdening himself of all of his petty disgusts and seeming horrors via a biography titled “Romney: A Reckoning.”
And, as you might not be surprised to learn, the “reckoning” — delivered via writer/collaborator McKay Coppins — comes mostly upon his supposed Republican brethren.
An excerpt previously published in The Atlantic contained unsparing criticisms of those who were in former President Donald Trump’s White House (“No one had been more loyal, more willing to smile when he saw absurdities, more willing to ascribe God’s will to things that were ungodly, than Mike Pence”) or those the former president had supported during the 2022 election cycle (“I don’t know that I can disrespect someone more than J.D. Vance.”)
This is unsurprising, considering he voted to convict an impeached Trump not once but twice. However, that exclusive preview was merely an amuse-bouche for the offerings that were leaked to outlets like CNN, Politico, HuffPost and Insider over the past few days.
For instance, take Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who Romney says has “just no warmth at all.” Fair enough. But what do you make of a former Republican standard-bearer who says this about DeSantis campaigning in Iowa, taking selfies with voters: “He looks like he’s got a toothache”?
“He’s much smarter than Trump,” Romney said, before adding: “You might point out, ‘Mitt, DeSantis is real smart — do you want an authoritarian who’s smart or one who’s not smart?’ … I realize there’s a peril to having someone who’s smart and pulling in a direction that’s dangerous.”
Mitt Romney is a childish, petty, vindictive, and broken man. 1) Mitt Romney does not get to assess ANYONE’s warmth. 2) DeSantis is an authoritarian? That’s just stupid. 3) Reminder that Mitt Romney marched with Hamas-loving BLM. pic.twitter.com/EoBXBtWKI4
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) October 19, 2023
Yes, the “authoritarian” DeSantis, who’s best known for the iron-fisted move of … erm, re-opening the state of Florida from lockdown and resisting further calls for nanny-state measures during the coronavirus pandemic.
Boy, that’s some authoritarianism right there.
Then there were the men he ran against during the 2012 Republican primaries. They weren’t spared, either, because of course they weren’t.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich: “A smug know-it-all, smarmy, and too pleased with himself.”
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry: “Republicans must realize that we have to have someone who can complete a sentence.”
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum: “Sanctimonious, severe and strange.”
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee: a “huckster” who was a “caricature of a for-profit preacher.”
Not that he thought more of the 2016 field, either; former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal was a “twit,” former Ohio Gov. John Kasich showed a “[l]ack of thoughtfulness, lack of attentiveness ego. No wonder he and Chris [Christie] spark.”
And Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was “a demagogue” who was “frightening” and “scary.”
Nor did Romney find conservative media undeserving of his scorn, saving some of his harshest criticisms for Fox News.
Of dismissed Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Romney said that it was “hard to imagine,” but Carlson had shaped the Republicans into the “the pro-Russian, pro-authoritarian party. And that’s not what it used to be.”
As for former Romney ally Sean Hannity: “I can only imagine that Sean is consumed with Tucker Carlson being ahead of him, and his everyday effort is to find ways to reclaim the throne as the most-watched,” Romney said.
“He’s in the same vein as Tucker. Just not as effective as Tucker,” Romney added. “Tucker’s smart.”
Hannity was one of the targets who commented, telling CNN he “only wished the best for [the] soon to be former Senator.”
“It’s very clear losing the presidency has turned Mitt into a small, angry, and very bitter man,” Hannity continued. “It’s sad to see.”
As you may have also noticed with the Hannity/Carlson barbs, “smart” is not necessarily a compliment in Romney-world. And, indeed, Romney is accurate when he implies that intelligence, if unmarried to scruple, is a dangerous bachelor.
How dangerous? You can find out when the much-awaited official biography of the ultimate petty, blind-spotted, unprincipled, spineless, fake-smiling, looks-like-he-has-a-toothache Republican, “Romney: A Reckoning” — which sounds like, for all intents and purposes, a hagiography crossed with ghostwritten autobiography — is released on Tuesday.
And then, those who get this book from the local library (don’t bother willfully donating your own money to this exercise in score-settling fraudulence, either at the $32.50 hardcover list price or even the $0.50 price tag when it inevitably hits the remainder bin) can all marvel at how close this smarmy, empty dud of a man came to the Oval Office — or how so many Republican primary voters, inexplicably, once considered him an acceptable alternative to Barack Obama.
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