Mitt Romney’s Naïve Incoherence

After listing Trump’s successful policies (“to align U.S. corporate taxes with those of global competitors, to strip out excessive regulations, to crack down on China’s unfair trade practices, to reform criminal justice and to appoint conservative judges”), Romney mysteriously concludes that “These are policies mainstream Republicans have promoted for years.”  I think about at least 40 percent of the electorate might beg to differ

Victor Davis Hanson  "Mitt Romney is a fine and decent person, whom I voted for without regret, then or now, and who strangely just published a scathing op-ed in the Washington Post about President Trump days before assuming office as Utah’s newly elected junior senator. But why in the world would he reserve his invective for January, rather than in October, when it surely would have had greater force?

"As far as Romney’s calls for Trump to be less ad hominem in his retaliatory remarks, he may be right, both in terms of presidential behavior and political wisdom (given that Trump needs to capture 5-8 percent additional support from suburbanites and minorities). And he is correct to draw attention to reckless federal spending and this apparent bipartisan custom of borrowing a near trillion dollars a year. Let us hope that Romney’s proven financial sobriety will help galvanize the congress to prune reckless deficits.

"But that said, I fear that much of Romney’s invective is utterly incoherent. The departures of many top-cabinet officials in some cases were regrettable, in some understandable, but most were likely because Trump ran on an agenda neither traditionally Republican nor Democratic. Trump was the first president without either political or military experience. So there always was also going to be difficulty (and paradoxes) in matching his outsider policies with experienced insider administrators. We should, however, remember that the tenures of Department of Defense secretaries (four in the respective Obama and Truman administrations) and White House chiefs of staff (four respectively for Reagan and Clinton, five for Obama) are historically not always particularly long.

"Romney is, euphemistically, accurate in stating that he opposed Trump (“Donald Trump was not my choice for the Republican presidential nomination”). And he explains, admirably so, that he hoped that “his [Trump’s] campaign would refrain from resentment and name-calling. It did not.” And Romney was further disappointed that “on balance, his [Trump’s] conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions this last month, is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office.” . . .

Cop’s Shooting Death May Upend Shutdown Debate

Legal immigrant who played by the rules killed by drunken sanctuary-protected illegal.

American Spectator, December 30, 2018

"President Donald Trump found a strong political issue in a brutal and needless crime on Thursday when he tweeted about the murder of a central California police officer at the hands of a man believed to be an illegal immigrant.
"This awful crime is likely to upend the debate surrounding a government shutdown that began because Trump rejected a compromise budget — which the White House had signaled he would sign — that did not include some $5 billion for border wall funding.
"For their part, Democrats don’t want to give him that victory.
"That could change.
"On Friday, Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson announced that authorities had arrested a suspect, Gustavo Perez Arriaga, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, in connection with the shooting death of Newman police Cpl. Ronil Singh. Singh had pulled over Arriaga for suspected drunk driving Thursday at 1 a.m.
"The suspect, he said, had two prior convictions for drunk driving, a “known gang affiliation,” and was trying to flee to Mexico. “We can’t ignore the fact that this could have been preventable,” the sheriff said.
"Christianson faulted California’s sanctuary state law that prohibits local enforcement from communicating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement unless authorities are holding an undocumented immigrant convicted of certain felonies within 15 years.
“ 'Ladies and gentlemen” he warned, “this is not how you protect the community.” . . .

Please, No More 'Border Security'

AAEC

Ann Coulter  "The media are trying to convince Trump that if he abandons the wall, he'll be a statesman, so that as soon as he folds, they can start making fun of him as an untrustworthy liar.

"Everyone knows that we can never have a secure border without an impermeable barrier -- something like a wall -- across all of it. The Democrats know it, the voters know it, and the millions of illegals hurtling toward our border like cannonballs know it.

"The Democrats' latest idea is to call a wall "immoral, ineffective and expensive."

"If they think a wall is "immoral," then they're admitting it's effective. An ineffective wall would merely be a place for illegals to stop and get a little shade before continuing their march into the United States.

"Democrats' backup argument is to cite -- every four minutes on MSNBC -- Trump's claim that Mexico would pay for the wall. We're all baffled by Trump not having already taxed remittances to Mexico to pay for the wall (100 percent within the president's authority under various banking regulations), but if we're going to start listing the promises Trump hasn't kept, this is going to be a long column.

"In point of fact, however, he never said Mexico would pre-pay. We can tax remittances anytime.

"To keep the Third World masses flowing across our un-walled border, the media are demanding that Trump agree to nonspecific "border security." It's like ordering a Starbucks and instead of getting a coffee, you're told to have more "pep." Now move along. Here's your change. 

"Would liberals accept such airy statements of intent in lieu of clear legal commands for any of the things they care about? (Not to be confused with "our country," which they do not care about.)

"Instead of EPA emissions standards, with specific parts per million of pollutants allowed into lakes and rivers, how about a law promoting "enhanced appreciation of God's bounty"? Emissions standards are immoral and ineffective!

"Nearly every Republican presidential candidate tried to con voters with these meaningless catchphrases about "border security."

"Here are The Des Moines Register's summaries of some of the candidates' positions on immigration a few weeks before the 2016 Iowa caucus:

• Jeb Bush: "has called for enhanced border security." 
• Marco Rubio: "proposes ... improved security on the border." 
• John Kasich: "believes border security should be strengthened." 
• Chris Christie: "urges ... using technology to improve border surveillance ..." 
• Rand Paul: "would secure the border immediately." 
• Carly Fiorina: "would secure the border, which she says requires only money and manpower." 

"They all lost. 

"The guy who won: "Trump has said many illegal immigrants are rapists and are bringing drugs and crime to the United States." . . .

Wealth, Poverty, and Flight: The Same Old State of California

Victor Davis Hanson

Insulated coastal elites, impoverished immigrants, and a fleeing middle class

. . . "So why is California a blue state? In part, because its conservative base fled, a future blue-state constituency arrived, and both the very wealthy and the very poor, albeit for quite different reasons, preferred a high-tax, big-government redistributionist state government.

"It is easy to envision California largely in a tripartite fashion. One population has wealth and privilege enough to create a garden of Eden, with the proviso that it need not experience firsthand any downsides of its envisioned utopia.

"The second population is largely that of first- and second-generation immigrants, millions of them without legality, and many of them poor and dependent on generous state entitlements and the non-enforcement of myriads of rules, and regulations.

"Then there is the third zombie population: those who want to, or in fact are preparing to, follow the millions who left. They’re convinced that they lack the connections and clout of the wealthy that would let them navigate around the new regulatory morass, and they pay more in taxes than they receive in state services. In the end, the diminishing middle lacks the romance of the distant poor and the panache of the coastal affluent.

"But California is explained not only by sociology but also by psychology. There is a new mentality in which the virtue-signaling elite enjoy the cheap labor of the poor and do not much care about the poor’s inability to access reasonably priced gasoline and electrical power, safe neighborhoods, and quality schools and infrastructure. From their secure keeps, they square that circle by offering generous entitlements, open borders, and progressive empathy — and lots of self-righteous bumper-sticker rhetoric.

"At least for now." . . .  Full article

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON — NRO contributor Victor Davis Hanson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the author, most recently, of The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won. @vdhanson

Remember These Fighting, WWII, Hollywood Idols? “Hollywood’s greatest–Compare them to today’s simpletons.”

Jeffrey A. Friedberg

Brigadier, and Then Major-General James Stewart

• . . . George Gobel comedian taught fighter pilots, I believe it was in Oklahoma. Johnny Carson made a big deal about it once on the Tonight Show, to which George said, “The Japs didn’t get past us!”
• Sterling Hayden, US Marines and OSS. Smuggled guns into Yugoslavia and parachuted into Croatia.
• James Stewart, US Army Air Corps. Bomber pilot who rose to the rank of General.
• Ernest Borgnine, US Navy. Gunners Mate 1c, destroyer USS Lamberton.
• Ed McMahon, US Marines. Fighter Pilot. (Flew OE-1 Bird Dogs over Korea as well.)
• Telly Savalas, US Army.
• Walter Matthau, US Army Air Corps., B-24 Radioman/Gunner and cryptographer.
• Steve Forrest, US Army. Wounded, Battle of the Bulge.
• Jonathan Winters, USMC. Battleship USS Wisconsin and Carrier USS Bon Homme Richard. Anti-aircraft gunner, Battle of Okinawa.
• Paul Newman, US Navy Rear seat gunner/radioman, torpedo bombers of USS Bunker Hill.
• Kirk Douglas, US Navy. Sub-chaser in the Pacific. Wounded in action and medically discharged.
• Robert Mitchum, US Army.
• Dale Robertson, US Army. Tank Commander in North Africa under Patton. Wounded twice. Battlefield Commission.
• Henry Fonda, US Navy. Destroyer USS Satterlee.
• John Carroll, US Army Air Corps. Pilot in North Africa. Broke his back in a crash.
• Lee Marvin US Marines. Sniper. Wounded in action on Saipan. Buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Sec. 7A next to Greg Boyington and Joe Louis.
• Art Carney, US Army. Wounded on Normandy Beach, D-Day. Limped for the rest of his life.  

•  Raymond Burr, US Navy. Shot in the stomach on Okinawa and medically discharged.
• Eddie Albert, US Coast Guard. Bronze Star with Combat V for saving several Marines under heavy fire as pilot of a landing craft during the invasion of Tarawa.
• Charles Durning. US Army. Landed at Normandy on D-Day. Shot multiple times. Awarded the Silver Star and Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts. Survived Malmedy Massacre.
• Don Adams. US Marines. Wounded on Guadalcanal, then served as a Drill Instructor.

Transgender boy wins girls' wrestling championship in Texas

James Woods‏Verified account @RealJamesWoods 23h23 hours ago

When historians dissect the Fall of the American Empire, this will be the cover photo...

Transgender boy wins girls' wrestling championship in Texas "Cypress, Texas (CNN)High school wrestler Mack Beggs walked out of the Texas sports complex with a smile on his face and a gold medal dangling from his neck. He had just won the University Interscholastic League (UIL) state girls' championship, making him the league's first transgender boy to win a state wrestling title.

"Beggs, a junior at Trinity High School in Euless, Texas, was born female and currently is transitioning to male. Despite the fact that he identifies as a boy, the league allows him to wrestle only against girls.

""I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for my teammates," he told reporters shortly after his win on Saturday. "We trained hard every single day and that's what the spotlight should've been on -- not me."

"Despite his best efforts to share the victory, he's all that people want to talk about." . . .

Comments are flowing in on Romney's anti-Trump editorial

And Rush Limbaugh hasn't even begun yet.

Wow: RNC Chair Calls Out Her Uncle Mitt for His Anti-Trump Op-ed  . . .

Ronna McDaniel

✔@GOPChairwoman

POTUS is attacked and obstructed by the MSM media and Democrats 24/7. 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.
. . .

Mitt Romney’s Counterproductive Op-Ed by Ben Shapiro at National Review

He’s forcing a ‘Love Trump or Leave Trump’ choice on Republicans.

. . . On the final count, Republican voters would be asked to believe that Trump is unelectable. Of course, that’s the same argument some of us made in 2016, when he then proceeded to beat Hillary Clinton. It’s highly unlikely primary voters will find that contention convincing in light of 2016, no matter what the polls say. And they’d be particularly unlikely to think that someone like Romney — a two-time presidential loser (once in the primaries, once in the general) widely considered to have run a milquetoast campaign — would perform better than Trump."

Mitt Romney casts a pathetic shadow in his WaPo Op-Ed attacking Trump
"Romney, the putative Boy Scout, was turned into a monster by Democrats and the media. And he blames Donald Trump for our divisive politics?"

Dear Mitt:  You are being fêted by the very people who destroyed your presidential ambitions, but that love will be short-lived and only for so long as you are the useful idiot serving their purposes. You also are being praised to the rafters by NeverTrump Republicans whose goal is to see Democrats elected. Think about that.
Of course you can and should speak out on issues of importance to you. But that’s not what you did. You reopened campaign wounds for no good reason.
Sorry Mitt, your current virtue signaling, coming where and when it took place, isn’t noble, it’s just sad and pathetic.

"My feeling on reading it is that Mitt Romney diminished himself more than he diminished Donald Trump.

"The rhetoric in the Op-Ed, while lofty in places, lacks a reality. Romney was viciously attacked by Democrats and the media, accused of deliberately giving women cancer and putting them in binders, of being a cruel heartless businessman who destroyed lives to save a dime, of being cruel to the point of assaulting a high school classmate and abusing his own dog.

"Mitt Romney, putative Boy Scout, was turned into a monster by Democrats and the media. And he blames Donald Trump for our divisive politics?

"Romney had a chance to reject Trump when Romney was running for President, but instead he courted his endorsement. Romney had a chance to reject Trump after Trump was elected, but instead he lobbied to be Secretary of State. Romney had yet a third chance to reject Trump when Romney was running for Senate, but instead he embraced the endorsement.

"Is there anything worse than a self-righteous hypocrite?" . . .

Mitt Romney: Hillary Clinton in a Brooks Brothers Suit

Hey Mitt, we’d rather have a gruff Trump than a polite loser like you  "Two-time presidential loser Mitt Romney, the incoming “GOP” senator from the great state of Utah, hasn’t even been sworn in yet and already he’s proven why conservatives loathe the Republican establishment and are so enthusiastic in their support for POTUS Donald Trump."

Ben Garrison

MITT ROMNEY Slammed For Trash Op-Ed Questioning Trump’s Character After Begging For Endorsement  "Even Geraldo Rivera jumped in to respond to Romney’s “rude” op-ed:

Geraldo Rivera

✔@GeraldoRivera

I get that @MittRomney doesn't like @realDonaldTrump But since the elegant new senator from #Utah accepted the president's endorsement & earlier even petitioned @POTUS for a Cabinet-level position, Mr. Romney's op-ed seems rude & has the trappings of political showboating.

Congresswoman Hopes Reparations Bill is Path to ‘Repair Some of the Damage’ Caused by Slavery

PJ Media

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) 

"Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) told PJM that the federal government should conduct a study of reparations for descendants of slaves to be able to determine the best way to “repair some of the damage" that slavery has caused to the African-American community.

Jackson Lee became the lead sponsor of H.R. 40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act, after Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) resigned from Congress.

"The legislation seeks to “address the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery in the United States and the 13 American colonies between 1619 and 1865 and to establish a commission to study and consider a national apology and proposal for reparations for the institution of slavery, its subsequent de jure and de facto racial and economic discrimination against African-Americans, and the impact of these forces on living African-Americans, to make recommendations to the Congress on appropriate remedies, and for other purposes.”

“ 'It’s a commission to study the issue of what was the economic impact of the work of slaves and how does it translate in the 21st century. And what we want to do is to build a narrative, a story of the facts and out of that be able to access how we repair some of the damage,” Jackson Lee said during a recent interview after her speech at the annual Legislative and Policy Conference organized by Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network.

“When you look at urban blight, when you look at schools in inner cities and rural communities that are not at the level of excellence that they should be, when you look at support for [historically black colleges and universities], all of that will be part of understanding that whole journey and that whole economic journey,” she added. “And it is interesting that these magnificent buildings were built by slaves, obviously with no compensation. That is not what we are asking for; this bill is to have a commission to hear from people all over the nation.' ” . . .

Strap In – Romney Didn’t Wake Up This Morning and Haphazardly Write an Op-Ed to Attack The President of His Own Political Party…

Conservative Treehouse  "Don’t get so caught up in a furor over Senator-elect Mitt Romney writing a political hit piece against the President of the United States that we forget to look at the big picture.

"Senator-elect Mitt Romney’s niece is Ronna McDaniel, Chairwoman of the Republican National Committee (RNC). Senator Romney didn’t just wake up on New Year’s Day and haphazardly write a specifically constructed character assassination against the President of the republican party; who is currently the President of the United States.

"No, this attack was done with forethought and specific intent."

"Think rationally and logically.  Why write the op-ed at all?  What is the purpose behind writing the op-ed?  What does the author have to gain by writing the op-ed?…

Cartoon added by TD

"And specifically, given the nature of the familial relationship between republican Senator Romney and RNC Chairwoman McDaniel, not to mention the political profession therein, with the senator writing something highly damaging; well, there’s obviously a larger intended purpose on Romney’s end of the equation.

"Likely many will believe Ms. Ronna McDaniel was generally unaware that her uncle was going to take such a position of expressed opposition.  She didn’t know?  Mitt Romney wouldn’t, given the circumstances, tell his niece of his intention?

"Let’s presume Romney didn’t tell his niece.  What does that tell us about the character of Mitt Romney; his obvious self-interest; and, in the bigger picture, what does that tell us of his relationship to republican party objectives, writ large?" . . .

"What exactly is this ‘republican party‘, Romney’s frame-of-reference (under such a presumption), all about?  Who would Mitt and Ann Romney believe is operating it?

If Mitt Romney felt his current DC entry point, constructed by his specific intent, would leave him entirely isolated from any influence and/or affluence from his position – he wouldn’t do it.  Right?  But he did…. so he doesn’t view this adversarial starting point as damaging to his political objectives." . . .

Timeline: Mitt Romney’s History of Backstabbing Donald Trump

Romney’s op-ed re-ignited speculation that he intends to run for president again, perhaps against Trump himself. An observer at Romney’s speech in March 2016 said: “This is just Act One” for Romney. Clearly, he was right.

I'm sure Harry Reid will endorse Romney.
Breitbart Politics

. . . "Here is a brief summary of Romney’s history of backstabbing Trump — often after seeking, and receiving, his help:

• • February 2012: Romney seeks, and receives, Trump’s endorsement in the Republican presidential primary, beating several other contenders who wanted the billionaire’s backing. The Romney campaign proudly touted Trump’s nod. CBS News reported at the time, “Romney’s campaign formally unveiled the endorsement at an event in Las Vegas.”
  • March 2016: Romney delivers a speech in Utah devoted entirely to trashing Trump: “Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He’s playing the members of the American public for suckers. He gets a free ride to the White House and all we get is a lousy hat.” However, with the primary still undecided, Romney declined to support any of Trump’s rivals, meaning the speech amounted to little more than abuse. (Some of those present at the time speculated Romney was laying the foundation for a political comeback.)
  • November 2016: Romney, humbled by Trump’s victory, offers to join President-elect Trump’s cabinet, and seeks the job of Secretary of State. After meetings at Trump Tower, Romney fails to win the job — but issues a statementpraising Trump and thanking him for the opportunity: “It was an honor to have been considered for Secretary of State of our great country. My discussions with President-elect Trump have been both enjoyable and enlightening. I have very high hopes that the new administration will lead the nation to greater strength, prosperity and peace.”
  • February 2018: Romney receives Trump’s endorsement in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate in Utah and accepts it — despite having declared in 2016 he would not have accepted Trump’s endorsement if given the choice again.

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

.@MittRomney has announced he is running for the Senate from the wonderful State of Utah. He will make a great Senator and worthy successor to @OrrinHatch, and has my full support and endorsement! . . .  

As is often said, if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog. 

Self-Appointed Nemesis Romney Blasts Trump in Washington Post Op-Ed

Next stop for Romney: guest spots on TV talk shows.

MSN

"Two days before he is sworn into the United States Senate, incoming Utah Senator Mitt Romney is blasting President Donald Trump's character. 

"In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Romney criticizes the president, saying that he hoped when Trump was elected in 2016 that he would "rise to the occasion" as leader of the free world. 

" 'On balance, his conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions this month, is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of office," Romney wrote. " . . .

Mitt Romney bids to become Trump's Senate nemesis now that Flake and Corker are leaving  . . . All other things being equal, it would be nice to have a president who is an inspiring moral leader.  But in the swamp of D.C., people may praise such a person while slipping the stiletto in the back.  It takes a street fighter to keep one's back safe.  And get things done.

"I fear that the favorable attention Utah's Senator Mitt Romney will receive in the media is only going to encourage him in his disparagement of President Trump.

"I fear that as he joins the Senate, Mitt Romney is going to adopt the role of NeverTrump scold.  I'd ask him to think clearly about what a defeat for President Trump in the 2020 election would mean for the United States.  Whomever the Democrats choose as their nominee, it will be someone who wants a bigger government, higher taxes, limits on the Second Amendment, CO2 regulation and taxes, and more racial favoritism by entities under the sway of the federal government."   Thomas Lifson

Romney arrives in DC. Attacks President Trump  "After allowing Barack Obama to walk all over him in 2012, Mitt Romney finally made it to Washington, and immediately attacked President Trump.
"In a column in the Washington Post Romney could not argue facts -- “it is not that all of the president’s policies have been misguided” -- so he took the low road.
. . . "Never mind the appointments to the judiciary that he made. Never mind that voting for Romney and McCain got me Justices Kagan and Sotomayor, while voting for Trump got me Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh.
"No, no, no." . . .

Trump fires back after incoming U.S. Senator Romney blasts president  Romney certainly checked all the liberal boxes here:  "I will speak out against significant statements or actions that are divisive, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, dishonest or destructive to democratic institutions," he wrote."   

Would Romney have freed our hostages or kicked ISIS out of their conquered territories?