“I am not Ronald Reagan,” Mitt Romney admitted Thursday. True enough; the average Republican reveres Reagan but is ambivalent at best about the former Massachusetts governor.
Still, in a party that lacks a strong leader, the voice of the 2012 nominee carries some distance. And it should carry far in this case because of what he said.
It is nearly unprecedented for someone in Romney’s position, a former nominee retired from politics, to denounce a Republican candidate in a presidential election, without endorsing another. Many pundits found fault with this, saying he offered no alternative to Trump. But if he had done so, his would simply have been an endorsement speech. Instead, it was a principled and disinterested warning in good faith. It was not “Pick the guy I like,” but, rather, “Choose for yourselves, but for the good of the country, of conservatism and of the party, don’t nominate that charlatan.”
Romney did not just criticize Donald Trump, front-runner for the GOP nomination, but called him unacceptable, a phony, a fraud, an ignoramus and a person completely unsuited for the job he seeks. Romney did this in calm, measured tones, without bombast, but also without equivocating or pulling punches.
The nature of what he said and the uncompromising force with which he said it, burned all bridges. It was not a tactical or temporary sally, but a permanent breach that reaches beyond the primaries. If Romney’s effort to destroy Trump’s candidacy fails, and The Donald proceeds to the nomination, it is clearly impossible for Romney to flip and support Trump in the general election against Hillary Clinton. Romney’s speech was a total, uncompromising and, one hopes, foundation-shattering attack.
“Let me put it very plainly,” Romney said. “If we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished.”
Romney acknowledged voters’ anger, but added, “Mr. Trump is directing our anger for less than noble purposes. He creates scapegoats of Muslims and Mexican immigrants. He calls for the use of torture. He calls for killing the innocent children and family members of terrorists. He cheers assaults on protesters. He applauds the prospect of twisting the Constitution to limit First Amendment freedom of the press. … Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University.”
Romney also highlighted Trump’s ignorance of policy, especially of foreign affairs. He noted Trump’s praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin, apparently the result of Putin flattering Trump’s vanity with a few compliments. Whatever his faults, Romney was prophetic about the challenge that Putin would put to America. President Obama mocked him for it, but the president has proven incapable of countering that challenge, and more broadly incompetent in leading America in the international arena.
We cannot know what effect Romney’s comments will have on voters generally. Trump’s most ardent supporters will presumably dismiss them as confirmation that the so-called “establishment” has it in for Trump.
But what’s done is done. In the present, Romney’s speech serves a noble purpose, and it is a message for which he is an appropriate messenger.
Hundreds of prominent Republican officeholders are now on the edge, considering hurling themselves off the same cliff at the bottom of which Chris Christie went splat! They may do it for the sake of self-advancement or party unity. Romney is warning them what a short-sighted and grave mistake it would be for them to sully their names by association with a vulgar and ignorant man who coddles racists and brags about the size of his bank account.
Romney knows what it is like to lose, having gone up against arguably the best politician the Democratic Party has ever produced. Yet as bitter and disappointing as his loss was, he lost with enough dignity that the Republican Party could bounce back quickly and seize control of Congress.
Romney has warned everyone that Trump’s 2016 loss will have no such silver lining. Take heed.
