In a twist on a popular adage, it is said that “hell hath no fury like a politician spurned”.
Hell…meet fury.
His name is Mitt Romney, and he just bought himself a one-way ticket to political infamy in becoming the only senator in history to vote for the conviction of a President of the same party … the only one.
Mitt’s fury compelled and blinded him to reason when wrath felt a whole lot better.
To be clear, this was no act of conscience, but a conscious choice to wield animosity as a battering ram and conviction as a cop out. Mitt’s mission: embarrass, demean and remove a duly elected President mustered by an unduly convened mob of Democrat executioners.
Romney deadpanned in a TV interview that it had been a “difficult process” for him. What’s most difficult here is seeing Mitt now joining hands with Reps. Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler, Maxine Waters, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Talib, and every other Democrat who was out to impeach the President from Day One.
Maybe this explains why Mitt Romney refused to follow the bread crumbs laid out by Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander last week. Lamar, a pillar of rectitude, argued that while he believed the president erred in that phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky, and what may have led to it, the act(s) failed to measure up to an impeachable offense.
Translation: “To be honest, I didn’t much like what the President said, but let’s get real people, you are now demanding his impeachment and removal? That’s a remedy bred from rancor that bears no reason. Worse, it would set in motion the near certainty that every President moving forward will face an impeachment guillotine fueled by angry partisans putting self-interest before selflessness for all.”
Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, two moderate GOP Senators known for independence and speaking their mind, picked up on Alexander’s lead and voted to acquit.
Mitt Romney ignored Lamar’s adult-in-the-room suggestion in favor of schoolyard spite. In an interview with Fox News, he had the chutzpah to take it a step further, saying: “It is the last decision I want to take”.
Seriously, Mitt? You want your betrayed constituents, jettisoned Senate colleagues, and special interest donors in DC to believe you were somehow dragged into this kicking and screaming, the old “I am doing this with deep regret and a heavy heart” bit?
Forget the inconsistencies of Mitt Romney and his ever-changing record. For gay marriage, against gay marriage. For tax increases, against tax increases. Against guns, for guns. Pro-choice, pro-life. For RomneyCare, against Obamacare (they’re kinda one and the same).
Forget the condescension and certitude that prevented him from winning a national election that would have changed the trajectory of the country 8 years ago, that could have shut down unfair trade with China earlier, and closed down ISIS sooner.
No, the real Romney has surfaced, proving he misled Americans all along, that his veneer of noblesse oblige and dignity was merely a mask to hide his condescension of superiority and an ego that will never be constrained.
Like many, I was blindsided, refusing to believe a one-time Republican nominee for president, who asked his party to stand with him against all manner of political and personal assaults, sided instead with the assaulters.
Like a politician unmoored from the real world, Mitt noted that he only voted to convict on one article of impeachment, not both, as if treason is measured in the number of times you do it.
Once was enough, Mitt. We get it. Now, feel free to share kumbaya moments with that petulant gang of pols who used visual disgust (and a torn-up copy of the President’s speech) draft) to try and upstage his State of the Union address honoring Tuskegee airmen, single moms, soldier’s families, and every child just wanting a chance to live their dream.
Mitt Romney preferred to incite a nightmare.
Now, he can begin living with the consequences.
Alone.
Adam Goodman is an award-winning national Republican media strategist who has advised Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Jeb Bush. He is the first Edward R. Murrow Senior Fellow at Tufts University’s Fletcher School. Follow him on Twitter: @adamgoodman3