Romney, the Trump-impeachment hero

Mitt Romney was the lone Republican to vote with Democrats to convict Donald Trump at his first impeachment trial for abuse of presidential power. In doing so, he showed a rare profile in courage. Indeed, his action inspired six others to join him in voting to convict Trump during his second impeachment for inciting the January 6 insurrection. In both cases, Romney risked his political career to uphold democratic values and the rule of law.

Yet he’s now throwing that legacy away like an expired bottle of milk. Yesterday, he declared that he does not want Trump, the wannabe dictator, to win this presidential election. But, incomprehensibly, he said that he will not endorse Kamala Harris to defeat him.

Romney, the party-over-country zero

Romney insists the Republican Party needs his voice “to rebuild or reorient” it. But that’s tantamount to thinking one good apple can save a whole rotten bunch. His premise reeks of either delusion or naïveté. After all, MAGA Republicans have turned the GOP into a cult more loyal to Trump than the Constitution. And the vast majority of its worshipers now see Romney as nothing more than a traitor with good hair.

More to the point, his declaration is belied by other disaffected Republicans who are endorsing Kamala. The likes of Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and Geoff Duncan insist they must do so to ensure Trump never sets foot in the White House again. They are urging Republicans to vote for her with the rallying cry that supporting Kamala isn’t becoming a Democrat — it’s being a patriot.

Simply put, they recognize that the only way to rebuild or reorient the GOP is to destroy Trump’s hold over it. And that means not just voting for Harris, but supporting Democrats down-ballot in every race against a MAGA Republican.

Meanwhile, by refusing to cross party lines now, Romney is consigning himself to the rogues’ gallery of conflicted Republicans like Brian Kemp, John Bolton, and Larry Hogan. They’re so loyal to their partisan colors that they’d rather chew glass than vote Democrat, even if the candidate were Jesus Christ himself. They’d sooner see Trump turn American democracy into a Russian-style autocracy than join Democrats to stop him.

GOP: MAGA today, tomorrow, forever

Here’s to the Republican patriots who are putting allegiance to country over loyalty to Trump. I fear, however, that Trumpism has become more ingrained in the GOP than even they appreciate. After all, reports abound about Donald Trump Jr. looming as the “crown prince of MAGA world” — much to “JV” Vance’s chagrin.

This is why endorsing Kamala might lead disaffected Republicans to become Democrats. But they could console themselves by saying about the Republican Party what Ronald Reagan famously said about the Democrats: “I didn’t leave the party; the party left me.”

And Republicans now hedging their bets
Shall rue their failure to join Kamala
And see their MAGA flirtation denied
By true patriots come Election Day