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SALT LAKE CITY – Although Senator Mitt Romney challenged Donald Trump’s character and did not vote for him last fall, he often agreed with the former president on matters of policy.
So how does the Utah Republican view President Joe Biden’s first two months in office?
Hit and miss.
Romney said the appointment of Jeff Zients as the White House coronavirus response coordinator has sped up the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine in the country. He said the administration had succeeded in reaching out to US allies to “calm some nerves” and possibly hold a summit to address common concerns.
Still, Biden, he said, missed an opportunity to work with Republicans on bipartisan COVID-19 relief, passing his $ 1.9 trillion aid package with just Democratic votes.
“I would have thought the president would have been more aligned with his inaugural address,” Romney told the Deseret News and KSL editorial boards Monday. “They just implemented their $ 1.9 trillion plan without any adjustments. … I think this is a real mistake on their part.
Romney also criticized Biden for rescinding some of Trump’s immigration policies, resulting in a “humanitarian crisis” on the US border with Mexico. He also took issue with the president suspending oil and gas leases on federal lands, which he said simply means the United States will now have to buy from foreign producers who are bigger polluters.
“I get frustrated at times with US politics where on both sides of the aisle I look good politically but don’t help,” he said.
Would Romney instead see Trump – whom he voted to convict in two impeachment trials – in the White House right now?
“I am not speculating on things that are not possible,” said the senator.
While not a fan of the former president, Romney has said he believes populism will exist among Republicans for a long time, even with Trump off the stage.
“I don’t think it will go away in my party, although I wish it had,” he said.
What is the future of the Republican Party?
Romney said Republicans lining up to run for president in 2024 “will become like President Trump as much as they can.” He said he didn’t think they would adopt Trump’s “character flaws”, language, or “personal characteristics that were so difficult for many of us, for me in particular.”
But politically and rhetorically, there will be an effort to adopt populist positions that might offer “more simplistic” answers than the times would otherwise demand. Romney pointed to Ohio where Republican candidates seeking to replace retired GOP Senator Rob Portman “argue as much as they can to look like Trump.”
“I think he will continue to have a substantial influence,” Romney said of Trump.
Romney has said in the past that he doesn’t know where the Republican Party is headed and now represents a small part of the party he once knew.
“Personally, I think our party is better at attracting the minorities and young people that we need to win and do better what is right for all Americans if we stick to the principles that have been our foundation for a long, long time. “, did he declare. , list balancing the budget, equal opportunities, freedom from authoritarianism and good morals.
“These types of principles, I think, are fundamental to our party and to America,” he said. “I hope they are in ancestry again in our party, but I think it’s hard to predict what our party is going to do.”
Because of his vote in Trump’s first impeachment trial, Romney doubts he could have much influence in states like Ohio and others where seated GOP senators are not running for re-election. ‘next year.
“I am not asked to help elementary candidates in many states,” he said.
But as a national party, he said, the GOP is going to have to “wake up” and recognize that it must embrace principles that are right for the country and “politically essential” for its future.
“We won’t have a future if young people don’t vote for us. We won’t have a future if we don’t have the minorities voting for us, and any image that we somehow try to suppress from the votes, what a terrible image that is, ”he said. “To suggest that we don’t want everyone to vote, we just want a few to vote. It is a terrible and hopefully inaccurate picture. “
Romney has said that while he likely won’t participate in the campaign trial in states with vacancies, he can speak out on issues that help the Republican Party do better with youth, minorities and women in the country. suburbs.
Trump, he said, has been successful in bringing Democrats into the GOP, but he’s also lost a lot of Republicans, and “I want to bring them back.”
Romney has said he wants to see Republican policies prevail, but he favors the 60-vote rule to pass most bills in the Senate because it requires a compromise that leads to better legislation. He said he would rather see bills passed that way rather than have them passed by the president with a majority, regardless of which party is in power.
Eliminating filibuster, as some Democrats are calling for, would significantly restructure the government and jeopardize the way Congress has legislated from the start, he said. The country, he said, “would swing from corner to corner” as parties tried to call on their extreme wings.
“I have absolutely no doubts that blowing up the filibuster, the 60 vote rule, would have a very serious impact on the long term future of our country,” Romney said.
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