It is utterly amazing to bear witness to the fickleness of human nature before our very eyes on national television. One could even argue that the advent of formidable technological advancements were forestalled for so many centuries to depose this not-so-rare truth that slashes the "we" in our political factions and bleeds into everyday life. When it comes down to it, we claim ardent disdain for politics and all its affiliates, meanwhile, we loathe the familiarity gleaned and likely to be present in our own lives. Personal abhorrence breeds the greatest of movements.
I would like to bring to light the continued audacity of former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, in his speech to the University of Utah given March 3. In this public address, Romney begins by championing former President Ronald Reagan, echoing his famous "Time for Choosing" speech in which he advocated neither allegiance to the left nor right, but rather a choice to move up or down. Success or failure. In this spirit, Romney attempted to boost the United States of American, parading the promise that, "America will remain as it is today, the envy of the world," but only via diligence and correctness of choice. This choice, of course, referring to the obstruction of the Trump train.
Apparently, Mr. Romney suffers from short-term memory loss, for in 2012 -- during his own presidential bid -- he giddily grubbed at Mr. Trump's endorsement and mammoth funds. On March 3, he deplored Trump's economic vision. Yet in 2012, Time Magazine reports a blatantly ingratiating Mr. Romney: “Donald Trump has shown an extraordinary ability to understand how our economy works,” Romney said, citing Trump’s record as a job creator. And, he concluded, “It means a great deal to me to have the endorsement of Mr. Trump.”
I suppose fair weather friends no longer have the decency to stifle chagrin and feel an obligation to indulge in public tirades; tirades cloaked in feigned decency and tailored logic, but tirades all the same.
Romney also observes in regards to this particular election, "The rules of political history have pretty much all been shredded during this campaign." Well, Mr. Romney, that is rather unpragmatic of you. How do you expect an election, that is so important to the fate of the free world as we know it, to run according to stale and outdated requirements? Was the Revolutionary War won in the traditionalist view of a British "gentlemen's war?" I think not. Terrorism lurks in the daylight on our own soil and on the televisions across the globe, and we are expected to play by the rules? Of course, the stipulations of political history have been dismembered; we've got one presidential candidate up for indictment while the other desensitizes a functioning capitalistic nation.
Where Romney labels Trump "alarming to our allies" and the source of inspiration to "the enmity of our enemies," I call to question the destiny of loyalty and its posterity. Mr. Romney, when you commit to the statement, "Frankly, the only serious policy proposals that deal with the broad range of national challenges we confront, come today from Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich. One of these men should be our nominee," I would like to see a bit of backbone. Don't call "The Donald" a fraud when you yourself are the product of a flagrant, fair weathered system.
My confusion lies in what this speech, and other movements like #NeverTrump, have to do with the success of not only the Republican Party, but conservatism in general. Did Mr. Romney expect his listeners to fall groveling at his feet, begging him instead to run again? Clearly his "supporters" are not that desperate. There is a reason why Trump has garnered considerable force and popularity. Evidently, the proclivities of the masses are too base and intellectually devoid for figures like Romney and Fox News.
To what end is this demolition of Trump and his brand of conservatism, or populism, or whatever amalgamation of right winged, capitalistic penchants he has snowballed at the American people, I am not certain. I always preferred a "good of the whole" outlook that I would imagine the Republican Party, which has been on the losing end of the turntable for the past eight years, would be itching to discard. Looks like I may be wrong.
If Mitt Romney dares bite the hand that fed him in the public eye, how on Earth are we expected to follow in the footsteps of these figures? Who are we to look for as role models of tomorrow?
