The atlantic what mitt romney saw in the senate

He is the author of The Wildernessa book about the battle over the future of the Republican Party, and Romney: A Reckoninga biography of Mitt Romney that will be published in October For many Americans, the former president has become an abstraction.

This article was featured in One Story to Read Today, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a single must-read from The Atlantic , Monday through Friday. Sign up for it here. F or most of his life , Mitt Romney has nursed a morbid fascination with his own death, suspecting that it might assert itself one day suddenly and violently. He controls what he can, of course. He wears his seat belt, and diligently applies sunscreen, and stays away from secondhand smoke.

The atlantic what mitt romney saw in the senate

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. First, here are four new stories from The Atlantic :. The End of Pretenses. My colleague McKay Coppins has spent two years talking with Mitt Romney, the Utah senator, former Massachusetts governor, and Republican presidential nominee. I am pleased to know that Senator Romney holds as low an opinion of J. But I want to move away from the discussion about Romney himself and focus on something he said that too many people have overlooked. We were a few months removed from an attempted coup instigated by Republican leaders, and he was wrestling with some difficult questions. Was the authoritarian element of the GOP a product of President Trump, or had it always been there, just waiting to be activated by a sufficiently shameless demagogue? I think every decent Republican has wondered the same thing.

But Romney was not deterred.

.

As Utah Sen. The excerpt, published by The Atlantic , includes an exchange Romney had with Sen. Angus King, I-Maine. King told Romney that he had been briefed by a Pentagon official, who said that extremist groups were holding a rally in Washington, D. I hope that sufficient security plans are in place, but I am concerned that the instigator — the President — is the one who commands the reinforcements the DC and Capitol police might require. But McConnell never responded, leaving senators, like Romney, to scramble to safety as the rioters stormed in. Although McConnell often aligned with former President Donald Trump, he defended Romney when Trump posted a series of attacks directed at the Utah senator on social media. The book also takes a jab at Sen. Vance, R-Ohio, who Romney became acquainted with in Romney had invited Vance, a successful author at the time, to his annual Park City summit.

The atlantic what mitt romney saw in the senate

Breaking News Reporter. Mitt Romney R-UT began telling his inner circle that he was weighing retirement earlier this year. The result is his forthcoming biography, Romney: A Reckoning , a portion of which was published in The Atlantic on Wednesday afternoon. And, as it turns out, Romney is as good at brutally calling out two-faced legislators as he is at bearing witness.

Mini melissa unicorn

It struck Romney that, for all their alleged populism, Hawley and his allies seemed to take a very dim view of their Republican constituents. He shuffles a little when he walks now, hunches a little when he sits. Quick Links. Allowing that argument to go unchallenged would set a dangerous precedent. And Romney had his own soul to think about. And yet, here was Ryan on the phone, making the same arguments Romney had heard from some of his more calculating colleagues. Manchin was himself thinking of running for president as an independent, and Romney tried to convince him this was the better play. I have written before that we can no longer indulge Republicans and their various media enablers in the fantasies that Trump is a normal candidate, that we are heading into a normal election, that the Republican Party is a normal party or, indeed, a political party at all. By the time the defense wrapped up its arguments, on January 28, Romney was privately leaning toward acquittal. He also wanted to ensure that someone onstage was effectively holding Trump to account. They have no interest in the stewardship of American democracy, nor will they preserve our constitutional legacy for their children. When one senator, a member of leadership, said he was leaning toward voting to convict, the others urged him to reconsider. Donald Trump will not be tried next month in the Georgia-election-interference case after a state judge rejected a request by prosecutors to try all 19 co-defendants together. Their main strategy is hope. Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.

He is the author of The Wilderness , a book about the battle over the future of the Republican Party, and Romney: A Reckoning , a biography of Mitt Romney that will be published in October For many Americans, the former president has become an abstraction.

Romney leaves the Senate chamber after a vote, May 4, Shortly after moving into his Senate office, Romney had hung a large rectangular map on the wall. Romney drew a distinction between the Republican colleagues he viewed as sincerely crazy and those who were faking it for votes. We were a few months removed from an attempted coup instigated by Republican leaders, and he was wrestling with some difficult questions. So, in April, Romney pivoted to a new idea: He privately approached Joe Manchin about building a new political party. The community is still struggling with the wreckage they left behind. Think of your children. Donald Trump will not be tried next month in the Georgia-election-interference case after a state judge rejected a request by prosecutors to try all 19 co-defendants together. Model citizens, well-behaved Mormons, respectable patriots and pillars of the community, with kids and church callings and responsibilities at work. His time in the Senate had left Romney worried—not just about the decomposition of his own political party, but about the fate of the American project itself. Allowing that argument to go unchallenged would set a dangerous precedent. So far, we should be grateful that Donald Trump and those who surround him have all been too selfish and too incompetent to turn their avarice into a coherent mass movement. Later, Romney would struggle to recall the exact wording of his rebuke. In an exclusive excerpt from my biography of the senator, Romney: A Reckoning , he reveals what drove him to retire. Skip to content Site Navigation The Atlantic.