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
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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.
Of course it is, every day, every hour. But we should be able to say when we think something he’s done isn’t perfect or the best route without being flamed.
Do you think criticism of President Trump by Mittens and Hillyer should go unanswered here?
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As I said, no fan of Romney, so yes I think his criticism should be answered. But, does he have any points to consider, or do we just dismiss because he’s Romney?
sorry, I was replying in general, not specific to you.
I feel and share the frustrations you laid out.
Need to drop out of Republican party in droves. I am out. Support people and not deep state party’s.
Jeb, go away.
BC Romney needs more bashing.
“BC Romney needs more bashing.”
True, but the article you posted was NOT bashing Romney - it was defending him! The writer said Romney’s criticism of Trump was “right on target” (or something to that effect).
Of course it is. Here is and example of criticism of President Trump - IMO he needs to ignore these power hungry political Federal Judges, terrorists men in black, and tell them to take it to SCOTUS. He needs to militarize the border and get DOD under control and bend to his will.
Why couldn’t he air his grievances in private? This was a grand stand move that is back firing. LOL.
I applaud FReepers as the premiere bashers
All you are doing is helping Romney get his message out. And you are promoting these leftist hit pieces and the presstitutes that are paid to write them.
What would be great is if these so called “journalists” were totally ignored. If they had no audience then their sponsors wouldn’t pay them and they would have to go find honest work.
But no - you lavish them with undeserved attention and re-publish their articles. You give them free access to markets and audiences they don’t deserve. You encourage discussion and comments about their worthless garbage - and every time their article gets reposted, read, linked to, or commented on, that data (whether positive or negative) is gathered by ratings agencies to measure the impact of the piece.
You are adding to that author’s ratings and assuring he will be hired (by Soros, etc.) to write more hit pieces against President Trump.
If you really want to help President Trump discredit the fake news, then stop paying attention to them. Stop feeding them - ignore them, boycott them - drive their ratings down, not up.
Yeah. I really believe in the market place of ideas.
Romney is at his most comfortable attacking Republicans and conservatives. He’s looking to take over the mantle of John McCain.
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