Sen. Mitt Romney, in an interview with “Axios on HBO,” outlined a broad indictment of President Trump, criticizing his rhetoric, his abandonment of the Kurds, his plea to Ukraine and China to undermine a political opponent, his character and past personal life.
Why it matters: Romney, who has emerged as the party’s most prominent Trump critic, is getting overtures to run against the president (he won’t) or lead the charge to get senators to convict Trump if the House impeaches him.
Romney, who wrote in his wife, Ann, when he voted in 2016, has only soured on Trump since then:
- On race: “The places where I would be most critical of the president would be in matters that were divisive, that appeared to be appealing to racism or misogyny. And those are the kinds of things I think that have been most, most harmful long term to the foundation of America’s virtuous character.”
- On Trump’s personal life: “He has elements, I’m sure, of honor in his life. And there’s things that I think are not honorable. And I mention that because of the payment to a porn star for sexual relations outside of marriage. Look, I’m one of those who believes that we have a responsibility to be honorable and faithful to our wives.”
- On calling on China to probe Joe Biden: “We certainly can’t have presidents asking foreign countries to provide something of political value. That is, after all, against the law.”
- On abandoning the Kurds: “A very dark spot in America’s history. We should never abandon our friends.”
- Comparing Trump’s actions to Barack Obama’s ignoring the red line he drew in Syria: “This is worse than that, because it says … America will walk away from his friends and from its allies.”
- On character: “People will recognize that character really is important in our leaders and that it’s important for our leaders to do things that unify us, that welcome people who come here legally as immigrants, that in no way signal to anybody in America that they’re less of an American because of where they came from or their sexual orientation or their race or their religion.”
View the complete October 20 article by Mike Allen on the Axios website here.
