On the heels of Mitt Romney’s announcement that he is retiring from politics, comes a second sensational piece of news: a new biography will be released in October, and it promises to make some eye-opening revelations about the way that his GOP colleagues really feel about Donald Trump.
An excerpt of the forthcoming biography, “Romney: A Reckoning” reveals bombshell accounts of his last few years in the Senate, following Jan. 6, 2021. An article in The DeseretNews details that when Romney had called Trump’s tries at forcing Ukrainian leaders to investigate the Biden family’s business dealings “wrong and appalling” Mitch McConnell agreed with him and when later, Romney thanked McConnell for having supported him, McConnell said, “It wasn’t for you so much as for him. He’s an idiot. He doesn’t think when he says things.”
“You’re lucky,” he added. “You can say the things that we all think. You’re in a position to say things about him that we all agree with but can’t say.” This is a glimpse into some of the revelations that the book promises.
The New York Times states that the imminent biography has greatly concerned Romney’s GOP colleagues, who fear being outed as hypocrites much as Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson were in the Dominion lawsuit proceedings.
The leaks of private messages between some of the most prominent hosts of Fox News and former president Donald Trump exposed the true sentiments of these supposed allies. Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson, who often praised Trump on air and defended his actions, were secretly criticizing him and mocking his incompetence behind his back. Carlson going as far as saying that he hated the bombastic Trump “with a passion.”
This would therefore not be the first time that such a disconnect is exposed between the praise and support that Republicans and public figures slavishly lavish on Donald Trump in public and the disdain–indeed, abhorrence– they feel for him in secret.
Sen. Mitt Romney’s revelations could further undermine the credibility of Republican politicians. Unlike previous books written on the subject, the Romney biography threatens to attribute the comments and name names.
The book, written by The Atlantic staff writer McKay Coppins, is based in part on hours of interviews with Romney. Coppins was afforded access to the senator’s emails, along with his personal diary, according to The Times.
“For two years, I met with Mitt Romney in his DC townhome as he grappled with what his party — and his country —were becoming,” Coppins wrote on X on Wednesday. “The stories he told me from inside the Senate were extraordinary and damning.”
The book will be released shortly before the start of voting for the 2024 GOP presidential primaries and caucuses, which will most likely see Trump as the nominee once again.
Romney’s contempt for former President Donald Trump’s brand of politics is no surprise. He has been a thorn in the side of Donald Trump since the latter’s advent on the political scene and has attempted to be the conscience of the GOP as they increasingly scuttle traditional values and the ethics of their position.
Romney called Trump a “con man” during a blistering 2016 speech. He was the only Republican to vote to convict Trump on an impeachment charge related to improperly pressuring Ukraine to investigate the Bidens. He also voted to convict Trump for inciting the Capitol riot. Now he will have the full attention of the public, but as has been proven innumerable times as Trump has faced one indictment after another, the book will probably make no difference whatsoever to his die-hard supporters.
