Posted on 01/02/2019 8:35:00 AM PST by Louis Foxwell
Romney hits bull's-eye in criticism of Trump by Quin Hillyer | January 02, 2019 10:43 AM
Print this article Sign up for In Our Opinion commentary
Mitt Romney’s surprising New Year’s Day column criticizing Donald Trump was a brave, bold, and bracing corrective for a president run amok.
Romney’s first paragraph lays out his case well: “The Trump presidency made a deep descent in December. The departures of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, the appointment of senior persons of lesser experience, the abandonment of allies who fight beside us, and the president’s thoughtless claim that America has long been a 'sucker' in world affairs all defined his presidency down.”
If anything, though, Romney’s bill of particulars could have been longer. Trump badly misplayed his hand on funding for a border wall, making it less likely that he will secure barrier financing while spurring an embarrassing partial government shutdown. (Democratic leaders are negotiating in bad faith, and I believe they are also wrong on the substance, but that’s another story.) Trump also roiled investment markets with ill-timed and ill-considered criticisms of the Federal Reserve.
Abroad, he also made our mission in Iraq harder by appearing to snub Iraq’s leaders at a time when they are struggling to maintain crucial local support for that mission. His supposed breakthrough for peace with North Korea keeps looking more and more like the foolhardy claims of a sucker. And he continues to impose tariffs on metals from Canada and Mexico despite his utterly overhyped new trade deal, hurting American consumers while making congressional confirmation of the deal more difficult.
And those are just the worst of the lowlights.
The bigger and more important point of Romney’s column, however, wasn’t about specific Trumpian actions. Whatever are Trump’s policy errors (or successes), they are at least matched by this: “To a great degree, a presidency shapes the public character of the nation,” wrote Romney. “A president should unite us and inspire us to follow ‘our better angels.’ A president should demonstrate the essential qualities of honesty and integrity, and elevate the national discourse with comity and mutual respect. ... And it is in this province where the incumbent’s shortfall has been most glaring.”
It is of course true that the precipitous decline in the quality public discourse is far from being the fault only of this president. Still, it is undeniable that the Oval Office is a primary source.
Some people say this vitriol is needed to “win” against the Left, and some even find it entertaining. They are wrong. The open scoffing at decent discourse, the ubiquitous reliance on flagrant falsehoods, and the open disregard for ordinary standards of conduct, all erode civil society to an increasingly dangerous degree.
Until now, just about every Republican elected official who dared “call out” Donald Trump has been politically crushed. Romney, however, has national standing, and a safe seat for six years — guaranteed to last until Trump is gone. This verbal shot at Trump, as Romney enters the Senate from Utah, has at least a chance of emboldening other Republicans to work harder to rein in Trump’s excesses. More power to him.
Government anything has prided itself on building fake political towers of influence and power, but it's all vapor.
Our president is despised because he is real and therefore builds real towers, employing real people making an honest living in the service industries, literally serving others. That's what the government claims that it is doing and therefore we can't live without it, the bigger the better.
All lies. President Trump came along with a simple message of truth about the Established order: "It's fake."
The dems campaign with slogans like, "Change we can believe in." Now they are freaking out because the God they don't believe in merely took them at their word.
If government were the god it thought it was, Hillary would be president.
Cheerleaders coming out in support of Mittens.
Romney (and all Trump’s critics) will soon look like even bigger fools once the 20 pages of the FISA warrant are declassified and released.
Those “allies” that Romney and Mattis keep saying deserve our respect meddled in our election, and were complicit in the seditious acts OF SPYING that tried to take down Trump.
Trump’s Tweet from September:
“I met with the DOJ concerning the declassification of various UNREDACTED documents. They agreed to release them but stated that so doing may have a perceived negative impact on the Russia probe. Also, KEY ALLIES’ CALLED TO ASK NOT TO RELEASE”
Not a Romney fan, nor any “never-Trumpers”, but is any criticism of Trump allowed on FR?
All sorts of concerns about Trump have been and are expressed on Free Republic.
That being said, FReepers definitely jump to Trump’s defense when the constant barrage of UNFAIR criticism is lodged against Trump.
There is a huge difference between FAIR and UNFAIR critics. For the past three years we have been inundated with UNFAIR news and opinions about Trump.
“...is any criticism of Trump allowed on FR?”
The short answer, “NO.” If you have nothing good to say, sit down, shut up, and listen.
Romney should be sent back to where he came from and shut his evil mouth..Our PRESIDENT HAS BEEN WORKING ALL DURING THE HOLIDAYS AND THE DEMOCRATS ARE ON VACATION ALL OVER THE WORLD..Time to get rid of these no good lazy oafs they do nothing for us and we are their boss not the other way around..Romney needs to go over to his friends side and admit he is a liberal moron..
Just what Romney was after, praise from the Left.
“brave, bold, and bracing corrective for a president run amok.”
What a piece of trash. It’s not bold to pile on with 98% of the media coverage in attacking President Trump. It is bold to take a mantle of defending him and standing up to the fake news and faut outrages.
“Romney hits bull’s-eye in criticism of Trump”
In my view this is not just “any” criticism of President Trump.
Mittens went out of his way to stab President Trump in the back after President Trump endorsed him and this so-called Republican writer is happier than a cat eating out of his litter box over it.
Do you think criticism of President Trump by Mittens and Hillyer should go unanswered here?
Mitt got triggered..lol
Mitt Chamberlain solution ..bend over America.
The Washington Examiner will soon follow the Weekly Standard into oblivion.
The “Mighty Quin, FOURTH place didn’t even show!
Has Quin Hillyer resigned yet.
If not, why not.
What a jerk and at the Examiner. Perhaps, the Examiner is taking the place of Weekly Standard??
And just like any business, market segments develop & fragment based on customer preferences. For the free sh!t army, they like their promised benefits clearly stated, with no subtlety or abstraction. However, on the other side of the spectrum, the GOPe prefers their rewards presented with a sense of nobility and refinement.
Regardless, it's all a scam, perpetrated on the middle-class that faithfully lines up for Lucy's football day in and day out. Trump was supposed to finally grab that mofo ball and give the plebes a chance to give it a whack, but so far he too seems just like another grifter spinning a good yarn.
Ultimately, the only solution - as history has proven countless times - is for the people to finally rise up and take control. How that plays out here is anyone's guess.
People such as myself aren't criticizing Trump from a traditional DNC/GOPe angle however. Rather, we're wondering why he hasn't burned this sucker down.
Why isn't anyone in jail? How is it that certain people can freely advocate treason, as well as aid & abet a foreign invasion without fear of prosecution? Why is it that all Trump seems to like doing is tweet insults, but never truly act?
Here's the $64k question for anyone/everyone: two years in their administrations, people like Hussein were busily engaged in F&F, MENA MB, Russia/Ukraine, etc, etc, etc. Where are Trump's black ops? Who does he have that is loyal to the cause and willing to "do what it takes"? The answer as far as I can see is a big fat nobody, that's who.
So why do you repost this garbage?
I come to FR hoping to get a break from the ubiquitous anti-Trump media bias - perhaps hear some truth about the good things the President is trying to accomplish - perhaps get some honest reporting of his successes and of the deeply rooted support he still has from his strong base of patriots.
But some FReepers seem to want FR to be a show-and-tell repository for the worst the MSM has to offer, supposedly so we can “be aware of what the other side is saying” - utter rubbish! How could anyone be unaware of what the Left thinks about Donald Trump? It’s literally EVERYWHERE (sadly even FR).
Look, I’m not saying we shouldn’t read about Leftist hit pieces, unhinged meltdowns, over-the-top hatefests and their blatent double standards, lies and hypocracies. I think it’s an important story - the story of how far the Left has fallen, how empty their rhetoric, how lacking they are in principles and common sense, how emotional, destructive and reactionary their message has become.
All of that is a true story and a story that should be told - but there are plenty of consevative truth-tellers out there like Dan Bongino talking and writing about this stuff, exposing the lies, telling the truth - we should be reading, posting and discussing what these people are saying - people who are telling the truth - not reposting the lying hit pieces verbatim - without even the courtesy of a barf alert!
Don’t get me wrong - I like to see Leftist melt-downs like the guy at the vape shop - it’s good for us to keep tabs on their worst behavior - the Left is becoming very dangerous and we should all be prepared.
I also liked the article posted just before yours about Romney being smacked down for his disgusting back stabbing behavior - by his own niece and others.
I just don’t see why FReepers who are already aware of what a scum Romney is, and have already heard about his most recent attack on Trump - why do we need to read an article about this by a Trump hating journalist who thinks Romney is “hitting the mark”?
That statement is 100% correct. Mitt has six years.
If POTUS Trump wins Reelection, Mitt will still be there as the new and improved John McCain in Magic Underwear.
If Trump loses Reelection, Mitt will be the new best friend of the Rat POTUS. Look for Mitt to headline the 2020 DNC Convention.
Did I say that? Reread what I said. You’re acting like the DU, scorched earth if one doesn’t agree with you.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.