by Frank Holmes, reporter
Mitt Romney penned a blistering anti-Trump editorial just days before taking office as a U.S. Senator – and a consummate Washington insider may have just exposed the reason for it all.
Romney wants to be on a presidential ticket in 2020… even if it means running with a Democrat.
Romney left Republicans scratching their heads when he wrote in The Washington Post that Donald Trump plays up “the politics of anger and fear.”
The 2012 presidential nominee, who was sworn in today as the freshman senator from Utah, promised to stand against any Trump comment he decides are “divisive, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, dishonest or destructive to democratic institutions.”
That’s some way to repay Trump for endorsing him in 2012 and again last November.
Romney’s op-ed was so over-the-top that his own niece had to denounce it publicly on Twitter:
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. https://t.co/ArhI7Bi7bo
— Ronna McDaniel (@RonnaMcDaniel) January 2, 2019
President Trump laughed it off, saying, “If he fought [Obama] the way he fights me, he would have won the election” in 2012.
But there are signs that Romney knows that… and he plans to win in 2020, against Trump.
A well-placed source says that Romney may just be the key to winning a presidential election if he agrees to run next year — but there are two conditions.
First of all, he has to run as vice president.
And second, he has running mates… with former Delaware Sen. Joe Biden.
The whole startling plan was laid out — in detail — in a column that ran in Politico just last month.
“Biden could run as the major third-party candidate with a principled conservative by his side,” according to the column.
“Now here’s what Biden should do next: Pick a Republican running mate in a ‘trans-party’ third-party run for the White House,” it continued.
It even named three choices.
“A number of Republicans stand out: Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, outgoing Ohio Gov. John Kasich,” it said, “and newly minted Utah Sen. Mitt Romney.”
If Joe Biden thinks you’re a great Republican, you’re not conservative — and definitely not “severely conservative.”
To make the column more convincing, the author of the piece is as close to Biden as you can possibly get.
Juleanna Glover serves on the Biden Institute Policy Advisory Board.
She also worked as an adviser for George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Jeb Bush — so she can work both halves of D.C.’s establishment system.
The White House and its allies say Romney is up to some political shenanigans. Trump insiders point out that Romney recently held a fundraiser for his old presidential political action committee — a way to get all his former donors active again.
Why does he need all that money when he’s just been elected — and his next election is 2024?
Steve Bannon said that Romney launched a “direct challenge to Trump for leadership” of the Republican Party.
If that’s the case, he’ll get trounced.
In a 2020 primary match-up, Donald Trump would crush Mitt Romney by a massive margin: 72 percent to 9!
“Whatever ambition Sen. Romney had to be president, he needs to put to rest,” McLauglin said of the results. “The Republican Party is now Trump’s party, not the Romney GOP establishment. It’s not a country club. It’s Trump’s party of working taxpayers.”
But what if Romney has already written off the GOP?
Maybe Mitt is tired of being a “responsible” Republican—the kind that smiles and loses to Democrats politely. Maybe he’d like to win with the Democrats instead.
Maybe the Politico column was a trial balloon to let D.C. insiders know what was coming.
Maybe Mitt got miffed at being listed third… and wrote the column as an audition for Biden’s 2020 presidential ticket.
In that case, his column makes a lot more sense.
Only in the Deep State is a team of two-time presidential losers — with no charisma or popular appeal anywhere in the country — a dream ticket.
You may just get a chance to vote on that ticket in two years.
Frank Holmes is a reporter for The Horn News. He is a veteran journalist and an outspoken conservative that talks about the news that was in his weekly article, “On The Holmes Front.”