Romney enters 2019 swinging; Warren eyes 2020
To start the new year, newly elected Utah Sen. Mitt Romney dropped a scathing op-ed in the Washington Post, saying President Donald Trump “has not risen to the mantle of the office.”
Trump fired back at Romney, calling on him to be a “team player” (and pointing out that he’d endorsed the former Massachusetts governor) and many Republicans urged Romney to hold his fire. Pundits pointed to the move as proof that Romney already was setting himself up for a 2020 run.
Romney's relationship with Trump has been complicated over the years. During the 2016 election, Romney delivered a scathing rebuke of Trump in a speech in which he called the Republican candidate a “phony” and a bully and blasted his rhetoric about Muslims and Mexican immigrants.
After Trump was elected, the two men seemed to mend fences and Romney was briefly considered for the position of secretary of state.
On the note of presidential aspirations, Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Monday announced her widely anticipated 2020 bid, hoping her reputation as a populist fighter can help her navigate a Democratic field that could include nearly two dozen candidates.
Warren is the most prominent Democrat yet to make a move toward a presidential run and has long been a target of Trump. But that’s likely to change quickly in the new year, as Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden and Joaquín Castro have been floated as potential candidates.