Mitt Romney

Ran as the Republican candidate for President in the November 2012 Election and was a contender for the Republican nominee in the November 2008 Election.

Our overall impression of Mitt Romney is that he is a good and sincere person, but he has an underdeveloped respect for the Constitution of the United States of America and has poor political sense. Mitt Romney likes to play by the rules, which speaks well to his integrity, but it also makes him a strong supporter of the status quo. He is not a man to defy the GOP establishment, and we expect that he even avoids thinking critically about the GOP establishment.

We think he would've made a good president, but not a great one. (Except maybe in comparison with the the horrible president that we actually got.)

2017

2017 saw Mitt Romney go from sincere but unimpressive political sense, to becoming a solid enemy of sense and good government.

In August 2017, Mitt Romney responded to a speech by President Trump, in which he criticized both sides of an outbreak of violence surrounding a white supremacy rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. On the one side, we had a group of white nationalists, who's message is rightfully unpopular, holding a rally. On the other side, we have Black Lives Matters, Antifa, and others protesting the white nationalist rally. A subset of the protesters began violently attacking the white nationalists, who defended themselves, and a white nationalist drove his car into a group of protesters, killing one person. The latter incident got most of the media attention, and hence, the popular opinion united behind Antifa, Black Lives Matters, and the protesters. In President Trump's remarks, he made reference to an "egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides" which inflamed many on the left. Apparently, this included Mitt Romney, who responded by tweeting "No, not the same. One side is racist, bigoted, Nazi. The other opposes racism and bigotry. Morally different universes." Antifa and Black Lives Matters have become well known for inciting violence. This is particularly true of Antifa. While, superficially, they may claim, and even feel that they oppose racism and bigotry, at has become clear that these groups are also perpetrators of their own brand of racism and bigotry. Antifa has often been described as a terrorist group. Hence, Romney's apparent support for the groups, and inability to support the idea that they deserve criticism for the events in Charlottesville, seems particularly unsupportable.

2016

2016 was a politically active year for Mitt Romney.

Trump Anti-endorsement

Mitt Romney made a big announcement of his anti-Trump position.

Donald Trump is very much antithetical to Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney's initial anti-Trump announcement rankled many feathers, including ours. Our general feeling was that, in Romney's naive bumbling way, he came off almost completely ineffective. His anti-endorsement may have helped sink Trump in Utah, but generally, we feel that by endorsing "anybody-but Trump", instead of endorsing a specific candidate, Romney failed to address Trump's main advantage, which was a divided opposition. It felt like a rather pathetic, and frustrating, gesture, even if sincere. We feel that had Romney come out and endorsed the leading opposing candidate at the time, Ted Cruz, his opposition would have been much more effective.

Mitt Romney's son, Josh Romney warned, in September 2016 that Trump could be causing permanent damage to the GOP.

Gary Herbert Endorsement

Mitt Romney endorsed Gary R. Herbert for Utah governor.

Gary Herbert projects a very Romney-like image. It seems to be an persona that is very palatable to Mormon-dominated Utah. He is very status quo, and it is no surprise that Romney endorsed him, even if it is disappointing. We do not believe that Gary Herbert has the integrity we perceive in Romney.

External Resources

• Official campaign website
• Wikipedia page
• Theodore Schleifer, "Mitt Romney: My family still wants me to run for president", KSL, 29 Jun 2016