Romney could eclipse Kasich’s anti-trump theme
WASHINGTON — Utah Sen. Mitt Romney’s public rebuke of President Donald Trump has not only opened a fissure in the Republican Party, it also might complicate any hope Ohio Gov. John Kasich has to seek the presidency next year.
In an opinion piece in The Washington Post and an interview on CNN last week, Romney criticized Trump as having a divisive governing style. Romney told CNN’S Jake Tapper that Americans yearn for “leaders who can unite us,” all but borrowing one of Kasich’s themes.
By doing so, some analysts say that Romney — the GOP’S unsuccessful presidential nominee in 2012
— has emerged as Trump’s chief Republican critic in the Senate and also might block Kasich from mounting a challenge of his own, either in the Republican nomination contest or as an independent.
“It was never anything but a dream (for Kasich), and Romney’s positioning makes it an impossible dream,” said Barry Bennett, who served as a senior adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign. Comparing Romney with Kasich, Bennett said: “He’s a much better fundraiser. He’s much better looking, too.”
James Ruvolo, a former chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, said that should Trump’s presidency implode because of the ongoing investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, Republicans would instinctively “turn to Romney first. He’s more predictable, and he’s been there.”
By contrast, Kevin Madden, a former Romney campaign adviser, said that although “it would be hard for Kasich as a former governor to establish himself on the same platform Romney has established, if Kasich were to declare himself as a candidate, that would all change. He would clearly become the most direct threat to the president inside a potential Republican primary.”
In a tweet last week, Kasich told Romney, “Welcome to the fray.”
Chris Schrimpf, a Kasich spokesman, said Romney’s opinion piece “shows that more and more Republicans and Americans agree with the principled position that Governor Kasich has consistently held and led on.”
“It certainly has no impact on the governor’s decision beyond being another indication that many Americans are looking for better leadership for our country,” said Schrimpf.
But one senior Ohio Republican who spoke only on the condition of anonymity said that “if Romney wants to own that territory, he can take it away from Kasich. He’s got resources that exceed Kasich’s.”
Kasich has been more consistently outspoken about Trump. Romney criticized Trump during the 2016 campaign but accepted the president’s endorsement in his Senate race last year. Romney also did not seriously question Trump’s stance on domestic issues in the Post piece — in fact, he backs the president on his tax cuts and building a wall on the Mexican border — while Kasich has departed from Trump on immigration policy, gun rights and other key issues.
During his CNN interview, Romney dismissed the idea that he would run for president, saying he was “not looking for the next election and the next spot. I haven’t decided who I’m going to endorse in 2020. I’m going to wait and see what the alternatives are.”
But Bennett, a fierce critic of Romney during the 2012 Republican presidential primaries, said Romney “wants to be president so bad. Running for the Senate was just a temporary distraction. He has no interest in being in the Senate. He is using it as a platform to run for president.”
Romney has at least seamlessly occupied the space held by such Trump critics as Kasich and two other Republicans who just retired as senators: Bob Corker of Tennessee and Jeff Flake of Arizona.
“He’s genuinely shocked at Trump’s behavior,” Ruvolo said of Romney. “Two, at his age, he didn’t want to be any other freshman senator. Before he got sworn in, he staked out a position that the press is going to run to all the time.”
Although Trump is extremely popular among Republicans, GOP lawmakers worry privately about his impulsive style, such as his reported private threat to fire Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell and his tariffs against China and Canada.
Just last week, Trump stunned Republicans when he said that the reason the Soviet Union sent troops into Afghanistan in 1979 “was because terrorists were going into Russia,” adding that the Soviets “were right to be there.”
In reality, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan to restore a pro-russian government in Kabul, a move that provoked an intense Cold War standoff.
In his Post opinion piece, Romney wrote that the “Trump presidency made a deep descent in December” with the departure of Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and the “abandonment of allies who fight beside us,” a clear reference to the Syrian Kurds the United States has backed in that war-torn country.
Republicans also worry about the outcome of Mueller’s investigation into allegations that Trump campaign aides colluded with Russian officials to damage the 2016 presidential campaign of Democrat Hillary Clinton. By bringing out his differences with Trump, Romney is all but advertising that he could be an alternative in 2020.
“If there is anyone who is thinking that right now — whether John Kasich or Mitt Romney — they are flying on instruments right now,” said Matt Borges, a former chairman of the Ohio Republican Party. “You can’t see the ground. The idea is that Trump will implode and render himself unelectable, then some Republican needs to be in place.”
American political history is littered with primary challenges against presidents. Unhappy with the prolonged Vietnam War, Sen. Eugene Mccarthy of Minnesota entered the 1968 Democratic primary race against President Lyndon B. Johnson. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy of New York launched a challenge later in the primaries but was assassinated before the convention.
In 1976, former California Gov. Ronald Reagan nearly bested President Gerald R. Ford in the GOP nomination race.
In 1980, President Jimmy Carter had to survive a tough primary challenge from Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts.
Each challenge, however, came with a big price. Carter and Ford lost their re-election bids, while Johnson dropped out of his race. His chosen successor, “It was never anything but a dream ( for Kasich), and Romney’s positioning makes it an impossible dream. He’s a much better fundraiser. He’s much better looking, too.”
Barry Bennett, a senior campaign adviser to Donald Trump in 2016
Vice President Hubert Humphrey, lost the 1968 general election.
Romney, however, could be a formidable candidate in 2020. He ran a spirited race against Democratic President Barack Obama in 2012, and after the first presidential debate, an exuberant Borges e-mailed Kasich with the subject line, “Romney will win Ohio.”
However, Romney went on to lose Ohio by less than 200,000 votes. Privately, Romney aides blamed Kasich, saying the governor made no effort to help his fellow Republican’s campaign.
Borges said the “idea” that Kasich “didn’t lift a finger isn’t true.” Kasich made joint campaign appearances with Romney, although that was awkward because the former Massachusetts governor, arguing against a second term for Obama, contended that Ohio’s economy was faltering when Kasich was portraying it as in good shape.
“Looking back at all of our roles in that process, I wish the Beltway political types (who were) brought to Ohio” to work on Romney’s campaign “and the Ohio political establishment had done a better job of getting along,” Borges said. “Both sides were at fault. We should have put those aside.”
“Had Mitt Romney won, we never would have been in this situation,” Borges said. “There never would have been a Trump presidency, and we wouldn’t be in this crevice right now.”
jtorry@dispatch.com @jacktorry1