Romney and Trump? ‘It’s really complicated’
PARK CITY, Utah — On the edge of a mountaintop in Utah, it’s getting complicated for Mitt Romney.
With the sun setting over his shoulder, the former Republican presidential nominee and would-be senator tells his audience, gathered on the patio of a resort, that President Donald Trump will win a second term. Romney also says that annual $1 trillion deficits under Trump are “highly stimulative.” And ignoring Trump’s new trade tariffs, Romney says there’s nothing already on the horizon that will push the U.S. into a recession.
Once the face of the “Never Trump” movement, Romney appears to be embracing Trump’s presidency as he re-enters national politics, this time as a 71-year-old candidate for the Senate from Utah.
Perhaps no Republican leader demonstrates the transformation of the modern-day party better than Romney.
Two years ago, Romney attacked Trump’s very same policies on trade, spending and national security. Today, like other candidates across the country this election season, Romney is taking an approach that suggests there’s no room for an outspoken Trump critic in Republican Party.
“Whatever the disagreements have been, I think they’ve put them behind each other,” said Anthony Scaramucci, a former Romney fundraiser who briefly served as Trump’s communications director.
Scaramucci was among dozens of high-profile business and political leaders at Romney’s annual summit in Park City this weekend. Outspoken Trump supporters were scarce.
The president has forgiven Romney, Scaramucci said, and Romney “can be an ally.”
It may not be that simple.
Many Romney loyalists, in comments in the hallways of the Stein Eriksen Lodge, said Romney remains deeply concerned about Trump’s policies and leadership style. For many among the Trump faithful, Romney will never be forgiven for his speech two years ago when he laid out in stark terms his case for why a Trump presidency would be a disaster.
Publicly, the two men have been respectful to each other, at a distance, since the 2016 election.
Trump endorsed Romney’s Senate bid on Twitter earlier this year. And on Friday, the president had this to say after learning Romney predicted a 2020 Trump victory: “Mitt’s a straight shooter — whether people love him or don’t love him.”
The backhanded compliment is evidence of the lingering tension between Republican heavyweights who represent different wings of the GOP.
Romney is the face of the establishment. He spent much of the past decade working to strengthen the conservative movement and elect Republicans. Trump has taken over the GOP by attacking its own leaders at times with a brand of populism that defies long-cherished conservative positions on trade, fiscal discipline and foreign policy.