If Romney ever became president, he'd be even worse than Trump.

[oberliner]

Link to tweet

If Romney ever became president, he'd be even worse than Trump. Romney IS Trump, but with better hair, smooth manners and grooming, and a stereotypical "presidential" look. He could potentially do even more damage.

Trump is a disgusting creep in every way, but the real damage to America isn’t coming from his “character.” It’s the backward, regressive, racist policies he’s instituting and the far right judges he’s installing. And Mitt Romney supports ALL of this, right down the line.

[Happyhippychick]

1. Uh

no

[CentralMass]

2. I find that very hard to believe.

[wryter2000]

26. Me, too.

He instituted Romney Care before there was an ACA. While I never want him to be President, he could not be worse than Trump.

[Cicada]

3. Yes, far more effective

[democratisphere]

4. So, we've got to make sure Romney never has the opportunity to become president.

[oberliner]

8. Amen

I don't like this attempt to make him into some kind of positive figure that seems to be happening.

[aikoaiko]

5. Romney was good enough for Massachusetts. Not that I want him to be President

Its hard to believe he is Trump.

[The Genealogist]

6. The dogwhistle versus the bullhorn approach

Mittens is speaking up because Trump says just what he wants to say, and this is not the Republican MO. I agree Mittens would be as bad or worse, the packaging would be prettier. A shit sandwich is a shit sandwich, no matter how you wrap it up.

[Soph0571]

7. I cannot agree with that

We may never agree with any of his policy decisions, but 20 mind changes a day will not be part of the deal. Anyway neither will be President... BLUE WAVE!

[oberliner]

9. On Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Mitt Romney says he'd vote 'yes'

Mitt Romney, the GOP nominee and front-runner in Utah’s U.S. Senate race, said Friday that had he been in office, he would have supported the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who appears poised to be confirmed Saturday.

“I would vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh,” Romney said, “given his decades of admirable public service and his 12-year record as an accomplished justice on the second highest court of the land.”

https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2018/10/05/supreme-court-nominee/

[Soph0571]

11. Oh I am not saying he is not a complete right wing wanker

But he is a sane right wing wanker....

[brooklynite]

10. Romney says he's not running in 2020

[yortsed snacilbuper]

12. Even the Dogs hate rmoney.

[louis c]

13. No One Could Be Worse Than Trump

Bush 41, Bush 43, McCain, Romney, Dole, even Reagan. they were all standard Republicans. Anti-union, pro-Big Business, tax cutting, trickle down assholes.

But Reagan granted amnesty to undocumented immigrants, Bush 41 passed the Americans for Disabilities act, Bush 43 defended Muslims after 9/11, McCain saved Obama Care and Romney gave us Romney Care here in Massachusetts.

I worked against every one of them. They suck, because they have a different concept than I do of how to make America the kind of place I want to live in. But they are not evil men. Not a one of them. Incompetent, ruthless, in the pocket of big business (especially oil, like the Bushes), but not evil.

Trump is evil. And anytime anyone here says that any human being on earth is "just as bad" or "could be worse" than Donald Trump, you humanize him and participate in the worst "what about ism" there is.

You want to talk about people in history that were worse than Trump? Hitler, Mussolini, Franco and Stalin. Now, there are Comparisons that make sense.

[Persondem]

15. A big ole +1 ... Well said. There's no comparison between twitler and Romney. nt

[Kaleva]

14. I very highly doubt that.

Romney's record as governor of Massachusetts shows he ain't close to being as bad or possibly worse then Trump.

Can you possibly imagine Trump working with Ted Kennedy on health care?

[LanternWaste]

16. Potentially worse is not worse.

Though it does have the unsupported, editorial potential to be, I suppose.

But that's the great thing about editorials... never needs evidence to reach the conclusion, just evidence-free opinions.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

17. No, he wouldn't. He'd be bad. Bad does not equal worse.

Can we understand the unique situation where we are in where we have someone who is a) seriously mentally defective and b) a foreign agent in the highest office in the land, and that creates a clear and present danger in and of itself regardless of politics?

Trump is as bad of a person to be President as we can possibly get, spare actual convicted serial killers and the like.

He's insane.

Our President is literally insane.

And a traitor to boot.

Mitt Romney is a dime-a-dozen crappy politician.

[smirkymonkey]

46. Completely agree with this.

Romney doesn't even come close to being the train wreck that Trump is. Not only is he relatively sane, he just doesn't have the ability to rile up the lunatic fringe like Trump does. And as far as I know, he's not in bed with most of the world's most evil, corrupt dictators.

Also, he knows how to behave himself in public, even if he is a slimy, republican plutocrat.

[PatSeg]

74. I agree

Like many republican politicians, Romney would be bad, but not Trump style bad. Trump is uniquely bad as president - unstable, unhinged, unpredictable, bat-shit crazy, and dumber-than-dirt. Romney is just another run-of-the mill dishonest, two-faced republican.

[Kingofalldems]

18. Seems anyone critical of Trump gets attacked by the right wing.

[lunasun]

19. Unsure but I do know Rmoney can not save us from GOP greed and bad policy- that's fantasy

[samir.g]

20. He'd be a smooth nazi instead of a loud, crass nazi

[TexasBushwhacker]

21. Slightly less likely to start WWIII

That's about it.

[Polybius]

65. It's the other way around actually

Romney is far more pro-war than isolationist Trump.

[TexasBushwhacker]

66. But I don't think Romney is anyone's puppet

Other than the general GAWD OF CAPITALISM. Trump would start a war if Putin told him to.

[Polybius]

98. Maybe, but he hasn't yet

So on war only, I give him the benefit of doubt. Romney is like Bush, who was a disaster on war. Romney wants to dispose of Assad. That could trigger a US-Russia war.

[Rizen]

22. Romney wouldn't destroy our alliances and global diplomacy

like Trump has. His policies are toxic but he's not an insane narcissist with the intellect of a 4th grader.

[guillaumeb]

23. Trump is the GOP unmasked.

The racism, the misogyny, the anti-people agenda.

[oberliner]

24. Good point

The others mask it better.

[guillaumeb]

25. Agreed.

At least in public they do.

But Romney revealed himself with his 47% remark while speaking to his supporters.

[underpants]

54. That's why their establishment (including Fox News) tried desperately to end him

The problem was the number of people running allowed him "wins" with less than 30% in some primaries. They knew he'd expose them.

[guillaumeb]

59. And a very weak field of candidates.

Trump was louder, and more adept at manipulating the reality television atmosphere that is US political programming.

[underpants]

63. Name recognition

His Monday morning call ins to Fox & Friends made him more familiar to the Fox News crowd.
They created this monster and then couldn't stop it.

[tenderfoot]

27. Glad you got Trump's back

eom

[John Fante]

57. In thread after thread after thread.

[JI7]

69. yup, always needing to defend Trump.

[FreeState]

28. He certainly would not put the US first

His church will always come first.

Mitt undertook this oath in a Mormon Temple:

"THE LAW OF CONSECRATION

PETER: A couple will now come to the altar (The Witness couple comes forward, and kneels at the altar as before.) We are instructed to give unto you the Law of Consecration as contained in the book of Doctrine and Covenants (The Officiator picks up a copy of the Doctrine and Covenants from the altar, and holds it up in view of all patrons.), in connection with the Law of the Gospel and the Law of Sacrifice which you have already received. It is that you do consecrate yourselves, your time, talents, and everything with which the Lord has blessed you, or with which he may bless you, to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for the building up of the Kingdom of God on the earth and for the establishment of Zion.

All arise. (All patrons stand.) Each of you bring your right arm to the square."

http://mit.irr.org/mormon-temple-endowment-ceremony

[aidbo]

38. Hehe, I'm not a religious person..

..but this sounds a lot like what people were saying about JFK when he was running for president.

Except, you know, Catholicism rather than Mormonism.

[Bleacher Creature]

29. I agree, but with one big exception (i.e. the nuclear codes).

Trump is legitimately crazy, so anything that removes his ability to start a nuclear war is an improvement, even if it means a President Romney.

[honest.abe]

30. No one alive is worse than Trump

A few dead ones maybe.. e.g. Hitler, Attila the Hun, Pol Pot, Vlad the Impaler.

[oberliner]

33. Were you around when George W Bush was POTUS?

[honest.abe]

35. Oh yeah. At the time I thought no one could be worse.

Boy was I wrong. I would take Bush over Trump in a New York minute, if that would rid us of Trump the Psycho.

[violetpastille]

31. I agree insofar

As Soft Democrats or Independents might embrace him as "The Sane Alternative".

And "Executive Hair" is a powerful thing.

But now that bat-shit crazy white Supremacists have had a taste of "Bat-Shit-Full Strength-Nitro-Monster-Jaw Grinding- White Supremacist President" can they ever go back to "Zero Caffeine Smiling Bigotry President Lite"?

ETA: I just looked and Romney's hair is not as magnificent as it was in 2012. So, there's that.

[Kurt V.]

32. yep.

[donkeypoofed]

34. Insult Romney all you want, but he ain't Spanky

No one alive is worse than 2-min Toadie as pResident. I discounted everything the tweet said after that.

[aidbo]

36. If it came down to Romney vs Sanders in 2020, I think a lot of folks here would be voting Rmoney.

[oberliner]

37. No one here would vote for him

I think I can say that with confidence.

[aidbo]

40. .

[oberliner]

41. Romney is a Republican

[spanone]

39. no. I don't buy that. trump has no soul. no foundation. no empathy.

the likes of trump have never been anywhere near the white house.

hopefully we'll enact laws that never let a trump happen again.

[Hekate]

42. Oh please. He was a pretty good Massachussetts governor, and gave them Romneycare.

At least be accurate.

[oberliner]

43. By the end of his term, Romney's approval rating in Massachusetts was 34 percent

[Hekate]

44. That does not make him in any sense "worse that Trump." For gods' sake, look at your words. nt

[oberliner]

45. It just makes him a bad governor of Massachusetts

What makes him potentially worse than Trump is the fact that he supports Trump’s trade wars, his rollback of environmental protections, his installation of right wing judges on the Supreme Court and numerous federal districts, and his massive tax cuts for the rich. And he demonstrated in his last presidential campaign that he’s willing to lie shamelessly and exploit conspiracy theories for political benefit. Mitt Romney ran one of the most dishonest, overtly nativist campaigns in history.

Romney is the same as Trump on the issues and is a "presidential" type that Republicans love.

[John Fante]

58. By this logic, Truman and Carter were horrible presidents.

Check their approval ratings when they left office.

[oberliner]

62. By any logic, Mitt Romney was a bad governor

And would be an awful president.

[John Fante]

64. Your dodge is noted.

Give Romney a lobotomy, he still be better than Trump. Charlie Sheen on a five-week crack binge would make a better POTUS than Trump.

[VOX]

47. Is Mitt insane? How deep is Mitt into Vlad? How thick is he with far-right provocateur Steve Bannon?

Mittens is just your garden-variety, clueless rich Republican, to be avoided at all costs, but he’s no scorched-earth, anti-democracy Russian operative.

[VOX]

48. Wasn't the Little Green Footballs guy a right-winger once? This smacks of Troll-doll.

This is precisely the kind of dreck you’d expect from Russian ops— “*Republican name here* would be worse than Trump!”
So just leave things as they are.

Nyet.

[oberliner]

49. Here's his 2009 blog post: "Why I Parted Ways With The Right"

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/35243_Why_I_Parted_Ways_With_The_Rig

He's been bashing Trump non-stop on Twitter since 2015.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

50. Don't confuse me for a second as a Romney fan. But one thing where he legitimately was right about..

....was the growing danger that Russia posed to us.

President Obama sort of laughed that statement off during the 2012 campaign but within 2 years I think he was in full agreement.

Might be a broken clock moment for Mitt, but credit is still due for calling that one correctly.

[Hekate]

52. Hell yes.I freely admit that Mitt was right& I was completely wrong to minimize the threat of Russia

Thanks for the reminder, Tommy.

[Hekate]

51. Sorry, but your nonsense minimizes the sheer traitorous criminality of Trump. Hillary was....

...also supposedly "worse than Trump," or so I was told a week before the election two years ago, by a lefty friend I used to respect.

Romney is no Clinton, but he is also no Trump. Let's keep a clear head here.

[oberliner]

53. Hillary is a Democrat

Romney is a Republican.

He ran against Obama, remember?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

56. You do understand that the problem with Trump isn't a matter of mere politics, right?

Yes, Republican policies on the whole are bad for the country and we as Democrats should oppose them.

Having a mentally unstable individual as President who is compromised by a foreign adversary, however, is an even more serious matter.

[oberliner]

73. Which I believe is the point of the tweet

Last edited Thu Jan 3, 2019, 11:14 AM - Edit history (1)

That Romney would pursue all the same awful policies and more, but would not be doing all the dumb tweets or the weird rants or the other craziness, so would receive nothing but praise from the likes of Steve Schmidt and Rick Wilson and Bill Kristol and whatnot. The seeming stability and reasonableness of Romney is what makes him potentially even worse. It's maybe not a great argument - I'm not sure I 100 percent agree - I just thought it was worth sharing, mainly out of the frustration with seeing Romney presented the way he is being presented now - and remembering how he is 100 percent awful on every issue we care about.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

78. Republicans/conservatives aren't going to magically disappear all of a sudden.

It's a fairy tale notion that everyone will magically be converted to Democrats and liberals and it will be all sunshine and rainbows.

There's always going to be an opposition in politics. We have to deal with that.

No one here at DU is going to actually consider voting for Romney against a Democrat if he were to attempt to unseat Trump in a 2020 primary. We're just saying it is preferable to have someone who isn't a raging lunatic and a compromised foreign agent in the White House.

Admitting that Mitt Romney is significantly more sane and grounded than Donald Trump is not tantamount to endorsing his politics.

It's just recognizing the unique situation that we find ourselves in right now, which is extremely scary and extremely precarious.

I know you like to throw out different points of view on DU for the sake of conversation, but this one is just a loser.

[oberliner]

79. OK

Points taken.

[Doodley]

55. Nobody is worse than Trump.

[Buckeyeblue]

60. A Romney presidency would be bad because he also lacks empathy

But it wouldn't have been worse. I don't think he has an axe to grind. He would have been fairly boring. But there would be no tariffs and he wouldn't be pissing off our allies at every turn.

[John Fante]

61. One man passed Romneycare. The other one

tried to get the national version repealed.

Picture Romney retweeting white supremacists, seperating families at the border, calling US citizens "anchor babies", deporting Vietnamese refugees, claiming Nazis are "very fine people", shutting down the government for a racist border wall, etc.


This thread (like all the others) is an attempt to normalize Trump, to make him seem more palatable in comparison to other Republicans. It's so obvious.

[oberliner]

72. Trump is completely abnormal

The point is that Romney is totally normal - but would pursue the same loathsome policies (just without the name calling).

[John Fante]

90. That's just objectively wrong.

Family seperation? Government shutdown over border wall? Muslim ban? Killing the Iran deal? Leaving TPP? Paris accords? Trade war with China?

None of this crap would have happened under Romney.

Tax cuts, definitely. Deregulation, sure. Increased border security, yeah. Otherwise, Romney would ride the economic boom Obama left him without raising too much ruckus. He'd be nowhere near as bad as Trump.

[Demonaut]

67. no. he fucking would NOT be worse

I can't believe you posted this.

[oberliner]

71. He would be pursuing all the same policies, but would be slicker about it

Remember how hard we fought to defeat him when he ran against Obama.

Did you forget how awful he was during that campaign?

[Demonaut]

75. you cannot defend the indefensible

[oberliner]

80. Huh?

Don't know what that comment means in this context.

[Demonaut]

96. it means you cannot equate Romney with trump, I don't like either but trump is the worst example

of a human being let alone president

[JI7]

68. you always attack people that are criticizing or attacking Trump

and i don't care for Romney at all .

but we see how you supported the right wing birther leann tweeden .

[oberliner]

70. Republicans who criticize Trump are still Republicans

I am glad you don't care for Romney - that's encouraging to hear.

[JI7]

89. yet you supported a birther in attacking a democrat

[lark]

76. I disagree.

Romney wouldn't sell the USA out to PUtin for personal profit, drrumpf did. He wouldn't say Nazis and white separatists were very fine people and wouldn't pardon Arpaio. He wouldn't cage children and drug them. He wouldn't leave Syria being blackmailed by one dictator for supporting and assisting another dictator kill an American resident and journalist. Yes he would be as bad or maybe even worse on taxes and financial issues since all Mitt cares about (like drumpf) is his money and doesn't care who gets hurt in him taking it. He also wouldn't continually insult women. Any Repug would be bad as president because all repugs care about is making money and stealing power to do that. They are Russian Repugs and none of them can be trusted with our government.

[oberliner]

83. A few points in response

I agree with you in terms of Russia - Romney would certainly have a more bellicose attitude towards Putin. He would not sell out the US to Putin for personal profit as Trump did, but his hostility towards Russia could get us into different and possibly worse problems.

Here's what Romney said about Obama's policies with respect to Russia:

"Without extracting meaningful concessions from Russia, (Obama) abandoned our missile defense sites in Poland. He granted Russia new limits on our nuclear arsenal. He capitulated to Russia's demand that a United Nations resolution on the Iranian nuclear-weapons program exclude crippling sanctions," Romney wrote. "Moscow has rewarded these gifts with nothing but obstructionism at the United Nations on a whole raft of issues. It has continued to arm the regime of Syria's vicious dictator and blocked multilateral efforts to stop the ongoing carnage there. Across the board, it has been a thorn in our side on questions vital to America's national security. For three years, the sum total of President Obama's policy toward Russia has been: ‘We give, Russia gets.’"

With respect to the Trump comments about Nazis and white supremacists - you are right, Romney wouldn't say stuff like that. That is part of the point - he would be a seemingly reasonable, normal president pursuing similarly awful policies.

[honest.abe]

77. For some reason you dismiss the real possibility of Trump becoming America's first dictator.

He has all the hallmarks of a dictator and the longer he stays in the WhiteHouse the more likely the possibility he finds a way around our checks and balances with threats, removal of people opposed to him, appointments to SCOTUS and other judges loyal to him, manipulation and control of the military to his benefit, etc. This man must be removed from office by whatever means are necessary and legal.

[oberliner]

81. I agree that Trump should be removed from office

Romney, though, would be similarly awful policy-wise, and perhaps worse since he will be able to advocate those policies in a "reasonable seeming" way.

[honest.abe]

82. Good grief... you still dont get it.

[oberliner]

85. I'm agreeing with you

Trump is awful and should be removed from office.

And everything should be done thereafter to prevent even a "normal" Republican from getting the office.

[honest.abe]

88. I think anyone on this board will walk through hot coals..

to ensure no Republican, normal, not normal, whatever from winning in 2020. Your OP does nothing to further that cause.

[TeamPooka]

84. Romney would not be Putin's little puppet. He would not cozy up to dictators.

jesus christ I cant believe I just defended that guy
but we have to realize where the lines are that trump crosses that make him different and worse than anyone else.
Worse than pence, worse than Romney or a McCain or a Bush.
They support the fabric of our society and world that holds us together
trump does not.

[oberliner]

86. He would definitely be much more bellicose towards Russia

That's for sure.

[BannonsLiver]

92. Which is why you started this thread

Can’t have people being belicose toward Russia. No way!

[CrispyQ]

87. I was sure this was The Onion. No way Romney would be worse. 0nt

[BannonsLiver]

93. I thought it was a headline from RT (Russia Today)

[Kingofalldems]

95. Yes.

[BannonsLiver]

91. God, your hot takes are so consistently awful and poorly thought out.

[oberliner]

94. To be fair, these are not my takes

Last edited Thu Jan 3, 2019, 03:40 PM - Edit history (1)

I am posting someone else's tweets - but I thought he made some good points.

In light of the way Romney has been feted lately from all corners. I thought the comments were worth sharing.

I respect that others don't find the takes particularly insightful.

[USALiberal]

97. LOL, this HAS to be a parody post. No fucking way Romney is worse. nt

[sarcasmo]

99. We would all get magic underwear.

[ecstatic]

100. I used to think that, but I've come to realize that it just doesn't get any worse than trump.

Let's be clear: trump has done just as much if not more damage than a President Pence or Mitt ever could. The difference is, I don't think either one of them could have entered my head space the way trump has. None of them could have negatively affected my relationships, emotional health and overall well-being to the extent that trump has. trump is an abuser. He enjoys bullying and flaunting his power. He enjoys hurting people. Lay back and enjoy the ride, he says, knowing full well the implications of such a statement. He loves that type of shit. I've been unsuccessful in blocking him out, despite multiple attempts and multiple pleadings with friends and family to not bring his name up.

There's nothing and no one worse than trump.

[Jarqui]

101. Romney is a big liar too - he's just better at it

Romney would be all about keeping up appearances.

He's similar to Trump in that he has no convictions or very few. He'd always do whatever is best for him over whatever is best for the country.

[Hav]

102. I think people also need to consider

the difference between the person and the policies. Trump is a completely rotten character and corrupt, a racist and a sexist. The bullhorn variant that makes Repubs think: I didn't know I could say that and get away with it. In actual policies implemented, Trump is just another R because he depends on the R congress. Trump probably doesn't care about actual policies besides the wall and anything related to Obama. I'd guess we'd see the same tax cuts under Romney and Ryan on steroids. And whatever Romney did in MA in regards to health care, there is no indication at all he would follow these ideas for the US nationally.

Trump tells you who he is with a bullhorn. Romney and Sasse as another example stand for the same bad Repub policies but put a prettier face and a smile on it. This makes them more dangerous for people to fall under their spell. I know this thread is about Romney and Trump but I would be more concerned about chameleons like Ben Sasse who I think is definitely considering to run for President sort of like GWB 2 (compassionate moderate Repub).

Edit: The one part where Trump is absolutely worse than Bush or Romney is undermining the American institutions. That is something that will likely have lasting impact. With that I mean the loss in confidence in journalists and the intelligence community.

[Qutzupalotl]

103. Come on. Would Romney simper in front of dictators?

Would he insult and drive away our allies? Would he collude with foreign powers to help himself get elected?

Romney may be a slick-looking ultraconservative, but he’s no traitor. He remembers Russia is an enemy, unlike this clown who wants to kiss Putin’s ass.

[radical noodle]

104. Romney is no liberal hero

and we have ideological and policy differences, but he would not be likely to try to undermine the rule of law nor tweet bashing world leaders.

[Cousin Dupree]

105. Mitt Romney is a Republican. He thinks like a Republican and acts like a Republican.

Choosing Romney vs. Trump is like trying to decide whether to die by firing squad or by guillotine. Same result.