This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/02/us/politics/mitt-romney-trump-republicans.html

The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 3 Version 4
Mitt Romney Faces Counterattacks From Trump Allies Mitt Romney Faces Counterattacks From Trump Allies
(about 2 hours later)
WASHINGTON — Senator-elect Mitt Romney’s biting critique that President Trump “has not risen to the mantle of the office” touched off a series of counterattacks from Mr. Trump’s allies Wednesday and an initial effort to insulate him from a primary challenge next year, an illustration of the loyalty Mr. Trump still commands even as he enters a perilous stretch of his presidency. WASHINGTON — After more than six years of less-than-heartfelt endorsements, a bitter parting of ways and a momentary rapprochement over a frog leg dinner, the relationship between Mitt Romney and President Trump returned Wednesday to where it began: awkward, transactional and lingering uneasily between friend and foe.
Mr. Trump himself wasted little time in rebuking Mr. Romney for an opinion piece in the Washington Post, pointedly noting that the former Massachusetts governor lost his 2012 presidential bid. “I won big, and he didn’t,” the president tweeted on Wednesday morning. “He should be happy for all Republicans. Be a TEAM player & WIN!” One day after publishing a biting critique in The Washington Post that Mr. Trump “has not risen to the mantle of the office,” Mr. Romney declined to endorse the president’s re-election, saying he wanted to consider “alternatives” in 2020.
Addressing reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon, the president amplified his retort, recalling how Mr. Romney thanked him “profusely” for endorsing his Senate bid. And he argued that if Mr. Romney had taken on former President Barack Obama as aggressively in their campaign, “he would have won the election” But Mr. Romney also made clear that, while he is willing to confront the president like few other Republican lawmakers, he had little appetite to spend his first months as Utah’s junior senator acting the part of Mr. Trump’s critic in chief.
Mr. Trump’s loyalists responded even more ferociously, and out in front was Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee who is also Mr. Romney’s niece. She often went by her maiden name, Romney, until Mr. Trump suggested she change it. “I don’t intend to be a daily commentator,” he said in an interview on CNN, repeatedly declining to escalate his attacks on the president and explaining that he would only speak out against Mr. Trump on issues of “great significance.”
Mr. Romney’s restraint in the interview was notably different from the tone he struck in his essay in The Post, in which he wrote that Mr. Trump’s presidency “made a deep descent in December” after his abrupt announcement that he would withdraw American troops from Syria, and the departure of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
Mr. Romney got a taste of how lonely it can be in Mr. Trump’s Republican Party to speak out against the president, as few lawmakers sided with their new colleague Wednesday and one senator even set up a conference call with reporters to criticize him. It was a revealing illustration of the loyalty Mr. Trump still commands even as he enters a perilous stretch of his presidency.
But if Mr. Romney later seemed as if he wanted to ease away from his essay’s condemnation, Mr. Trump was, at least by his standards, somewhat muted in his counterattack against the man he once belittled for walking “like a penguin.”
Early on Wednesday, Mr. Trump noted that the former Massachusetts governor lost his 2012 presidential bid. “I won big, and he didn’t,” the president tweeted. “He should be happy for all Republicans. Be a TEAM player & WIN!”
And when addressing reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon, the president said that if Mr. Romney had been as harsh on former President Barack Obama in their campaign, “he would have won the election.”
Mr. Trump’s loyalists responded more ferociously, and out in front was Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee who is also Mr. Romney’s niece.
“For an incoming Republican freshman senator to attack @realdonaldtrump as their first act feeds into what the Democrats and media want and is disappointing and unproductive,” Ms. McDaniel wrote about her uncle on Twitter.“For an incoming Republican freshman senator to attack @realdonaldtrump as their first act feeds into what the Democrats and media want and is disappointing and unproductive,” Ms. McDaniel wrote about her uncle on Twitter.
Her attack stunned other members of Mr. Romney’s family, with one suggesting she would regret putting her political loyalties over her family but they declined to publicly respond in kind. Her attack stunned other members of Mr. Romney’s family, with one suggesting she would regret putting her political loyalties over her family.
Mr. Romney’s broadside, published just before he is to be sworn in as the junior senator from his current home state of Utah, represented the latest turn in an on-and-off political feud between the two men that dates back to Mr. Romney’s attacks on Mr. Trump during the 2016 campaign. And it amounted to a blunt reminder to Mr. Trump that one of his most outspoken Republican critics would soon have a high-profile platform in Washington — at a moment when series of investigations have engulfed the White House and Democrats are about to take control of the House. But Mr. Romney declined to respond in kind to her, and the matter only illustrated how awkward this moment is for all parties.
Sensing the makings of a primary threat to the president, some of his most ardent backers on the R.N.C. began making the case that the party’s rules be changed to ensure Mr. Trump’s renomination in 2020. This week’s contretemps were just the latest turn in an on-and-off political relationship dating back to Mr. Trump’s 2012 endorsement of Mr. Romney at the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas.
Calling Mr. Romney’s attack “calculated political treachery,” Jevon Williams, the national committeeman from the Virgin Islands, wrote in an email to other members of the Republican National Committee that the party should move to protect Mr. Trump by amending party rules to make it harder for a challenger to have his name placed in nomination at the G.O.P.’s 2020 convention. Mr. Romney, then a candidate for the presidency, and his wife, Ann, were not thrilled about having to submit to Mr. Trump, who relished the attention but plainly did not have a natural connection with Mr. Romney.
Four years later it was Mr. Trump on the ballot, and Mr. Romney unleashed a blistering attack on his character, calling him “a fraud,” prompting Mr. Trump to call him “a choker.”
But after Mr. Trump won, the two appeared to reach a détente and even discussed Mr. Romney’s taking the secretary of state job over a dinner of frog legs at the Jean-Georges restaurant in Manhattan.
Since then, the two have maintained a relative peace, with Mr. Trump endorsing Mr. Romney’s campaign for the Senate last year and Mr. Romney only intermittently confronting the president.
But at a moment when series of investigations have engulfed the White House and Democrats are about to take control of the House, Mr. Romney’s broadside this week was a reminder to Mr. Trump that one of his earliest and loudest Republican critics will soon have a high-profile platform in Washington.
Sensing the makings of a primary threat to the president, some of his most ardent backers on the Republican National Committee began making the case that the party’s rules be changed to ensure Mr. Trump’s renomination in 2020.
Calling Mr. Romney’s attack “calculated political treachery,” Jevon Williams, the national committeeman from the Virgin Islands, wrote in an email to other members of the R.N.C. that the party should move to protect Mr. Trump by amending party rules to make it harder for a challenger to have his name placed in nomination at the Republicans’ 2020 convention.
And, Mr. Williams wrote, the party should use its winter meeting this month to pass a resolution endorsing Mr. Trump and declaring him “the presumptive nominee in 2020.”And, Mr. Williams wrote, the party should use its winter meeting this month to pass a resolution endorsing Mr. Trump and declaring him “the presumptive nominee in 2020.”
And other Republicans saw Mr. Romney’s offensive as an opening to nurture their ties with Mr. Trump, who keeps close tabs on who defends him in the media. In the CNN interview, Mr. Romney said, “I’m not running again.”
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, who has been aggressively lobbying the president to side with his noninterventionist approach to foreign policy, scheduled an afternoon conference call with reporters to target his soon-to-be colleague. But even if he just acts as an occasional critic of the president, Mr. Romney will run into resistance.
“I just don’t think the president deserves to have a new senator coming in attacking his character,” said Mr. Paul, accusing Mr. Romney of “holier than thou” attacks but sidestepping questions about Mr. Trump’s own penchant for name-calling and personal mockery. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, viewing Mr. Romney’s offensive as an opening to nurture his ties with the media-obsessed Mr. Trump, scheduled an afternoon conference call with reporters to target his soon-to-be colleague.
Mr. Trump’s senior aides were less exercised about Mr. Romney’s attack, with one of them noting with pleasure that the president was relatively restrained in his tweet about Mr. Romney — and that an overreaction would only reinforce Mr. Romney’s criticism. “I just don’t think the president deserves to have a new senator coming in attacking his character,” said Mr. Paul, accusing Mr. Romney of acting “holier than thou.”
The Trump aides gamely described his tweet about Mr. Romney as tame compared to what they expected from him, suggesting the president is still preoccupied with the fight over funding a border wall. Mr. Trump’s senior aides were less exercised about Mr. Romney’s attack, with one of them noting with pleasure that the president was relatively restrained — and that an overreaction would only reinforce Mr. Romney’s criticism.
But White House officials were still irritated with Mr. Romney, pointedly noting that they only got a brief head’s up that the essay was coming. Ms. McDaniel informed them about the piece, according to a senior White House aide. But White House officials were still irritated with Mr. Romney, pointedly noting that they only got a brief heads-up that the essay was coming. It was Ms. McDaniel who informed them about the column, according to a senior White House aide.
Mr. Romney’s criticism revived talk that he may be willing to take on Mr. Trump in 2020 — what would be his third campaign in the last four elections — but Republicans close to him said Trump critics in the party were projecting their own hopes on the new senator. Mr. Romney’s allies said part of the purpose of the column was to give him a document that he can point back to, as an evergreen statement of his general thinking about Mr. Trump, rather than offering critiques in response to every presidential tweet.
And even those in the party who are uneasy with Mr. Trump do not believe that calls for a balanced-budget amendment and lamenting how dismayed other countries are with the president, as Mr. Romney did in the essay, are the stuff of a winning Republican primary challenge. For his part, though, Mr. Trump has been warily eyeing the arrival of Mr. Romney since well before the essay in The Post.
Mr. Romney’s allies say he is not spoiling for a daily war with Mr. Trump, and part of the purpose of the column was to give him a document that he can point back to, as an evergreen statement of his general thinking about Mr. Trump, rather than serving up new commentary on the president day to day. Last fall, Mr. Trump, mindful that Mr. Romney would move quickly to assert himself, asked Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, not to give Mr. Romney a leadership platform. A Republican familiar with the discussion said that Mr. Trump specifically wanted to keep Mr. Romney away from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the party’s campaign arm in Senate races.
For his part, though, Mr. Trump has been warily eying the arrival of Mr. Romney since well before The Post published the piece online Tuesday night. But even if Mr. Romney gets no formal title with Senate Republicans, Trump aides worry that Mr. Romney’s extensive fund-raising network will make it hard for the Republican campaign committee to resist making use of him in the 2020 election cycle.
Last fall, Mr. Trump, mindful that Mr. Romney would move quickly to assert himself, asked Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, not to give Mr. Romney a leadership platform. A Republican familiar with the discussion said Mr. Trump specifically wanted to keep Mr. Romney away from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the party’s campaign arm in Senate races. The notion of installing Mr. Romney at the campaign committee was a pet project of his longtime family friend and adviser Spencer Zwick, who raised the idea with donors as a way of carving out a leadership role as an unusually prominent freshman lawmaker.
But even if Mr. Romney gets no formal title with Senate Republicans, Trump aides worry that Mr. Romney’s extensive fund-raising network will make it hard for the G.O.P. campaign committee to resist making use of him in the 2020 Senate election cycle. The idea drew at least mild interest from Mrs. Romney, but Mr. Romney was less intrigued and viewed it as a nonstarter for practical reasons, two people briefed on the conversations said. The position is effectively a fund-raising assignment, and another senator, Todd Young of Indiana, got the job.
The notion of installing Mr. Romney at the campaign committee was a pet project of his longtime family friend and adviser, Spencer Zwick, who raised the idea with donors as a way of carving out a leadership role as an unusually prominent freshman lawmaker. But operating in a formal capacity as a partisan functionary would most likely have required Mr. Romney to stay silent about his disagreements with Mr. Trump, lest he put Republican candidates in the position of having to pick sides between the two men — the sitting president and the best-known Republican senator — on a routine basis.
The idea drew at least mild interest from Mr. Romney’s wife, Ann, but Mr. Romney was less intrigued and viewed it as a nonstarter for practical reasons, two people briefed on the conversations said. The position is effectively a fund-raising assignment, and another senator, Todd Young of Indiana, got the job. Mr. Young told Republican officials last month that there had been conversations about getting Mr. Romney involved with the campaign committee, according to a G.O.P. strategist familiar with the conversations. Republican leaders believe that scenario may come to pass even without giving Mr. Romney an official leadership role, as he discovers the enormous megaphone available to him in the halls of Congress
But operating in a formal capacity as a partisan functionary would likely have required Mr. Romney to stay silent about his disagreements with Mr. Trump, lest he put Republican candidates in the position of having to pick sides between the two men — the sitting president and the best-known Republican senator — on a routine basis. Republican leaders believe that scenario may come to pass even without giving Mr. Romney an official leadership role, as he discovers the enormous megaphone available to him in the halls of Capitol Hill. But Mr. Romney said Wednesday that he would not seek to torment Mr. Trump.
And Mr. Romney, his associates say, remains viscerally uneasy with Mr. Trump and unhappy with the recent tumult in his administration. An avowed national security hawk, Mr. Romney was alarmed by the abrupt departure of Jim Mattis, the former defense secretary, late last month, and also troubled by the ouster of John F. Kelly as the White House chief of staff, a person close to Mr. Romney said. “Just doing things symbolically that hurt somebody that you’re opposed to doesn’t make any sense,” he said.
But it remains unclear if Mr. Romney will now mute his criticism, particularly if Mr. Trump continues to resist a more pointed personal response.
“Will this be part of broader, and more sustained effort in which senators and House members pressure the White House to chart a new course and change their behavior?” asked Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist who worked on Mr. Romney’s campaign, noting that the governor-turned-senator’s blistering speech against Mr. Trump in 2016 was not followed by any plan to derail his candidacy.
“Speeches and op-eds are one thing,” Mr. Madden said. “But a broader, more sustained strategy is what would make an impact.”