FINAL WORD
While every other Republican Senator understood the “whistleblower” Ukraine phone call for the partisan scam that it was, Mitt Romney was swayed. While the sane half of the country laughed at Nancy Pelosi’s claim that impeachment was a solemn, prayerful affair that she took no pleasure in igniting, Mitt became a believer. When Adam Schiff made sure that House Democrats could call 17 witnesses against Trump in the impeachment trial with no Republican witnesses allowed or even the presence of counsel to represent the president’s interests, Mitt Romney came away thinking that was due process. And when Schiff turned around as a manager for impeachment to claim, with the most sanctimonious tone he could muster, that the Senate choosing not to call witnesses that the House had already skipped would effectively invalidate the whole process and undermine the integrity of Congress – Romney was taken in by the blatant mendacity. Unsurprisingly, Democrats have decided that the man they derided in 2012 as a vulture capitalist who keeps women locked in binders and stole health care from old people so he could live in multiple mansions is now a paragon of virtue. Their opportunism in this assessment is as blatant as Pelosi’s posturing during the impeachment farce. But even some Mitt hates Trump, and this Senate vote to convict is his last desperate act to get some vengeance.
Republicans have now taken the position that Mitt’s act of defiance is rooted in a deep and abiding love of the Constitution and personal honor. Nonsense. Mitt Romney’s political career has been defined by whatever is best for Mitt Romney. He pretends to stand on principle at the moment, when in reality he is throwing a tantrum rooted in hatred and envy. Mitt is too intelligent to believe that a phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that resulted in nothing and where no law was broken is somehow grounds for undoing the expressed will of 63 million voters in 2016. Mitt hates Trump, and this Senate vote to convict is his last desperate act to get some vengeance. In doing so, Romney has given cover to Democrats to call the removal vote “bipartisan,” and relieved pressure on wavering Democrats like Sinema and Manchin who were able to stick with their party. There was nothing to gain in this for anyone on the side of the conservatism and constitutionalism that Mitt Romney professes to care so much about. Hubris and vanity are powerful motivators. Senator Romney can try to cover himself in the trappings of conscience, but with this vote, he has shown that he cares more about sticking a finger in Trump’s eye than the policies and principles he has spent decades pretending to defend and cherish. Congrats, Senator Romney. The Democrat Party awaits.
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February 2020
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