Romney: Trump’s return would likely make ‘malady of denial, deceit and distrust’ in US ‘incurable’
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Monday said that former President Trump’s return to office would feed into the “national malady of denial, deceit, and distrust” that the senator said President Biden has not been able to break through.
In an opinion piece published in The Atlantic, Romney said that many Americans on both sides of the aisle are continuing to dismiss various threats against the country, including inflation, global climate change, illegal immigration and water insecurity in the West. He cited the reactions of “MAGA loyalists” to the recent congressional hearings on the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol as another such example of Americans’ denial.
“If we continue to ignore the real threats we face, America will inevitably suffer serious consequences,” Romney wrote.
The Republican senator called Biden a “genuinely good man,” though he said the president has not been able to resolve the nation’s dismissal of serious issues, then warned that the possible return of Trump could inflate that denial beyond repair.
“President Joe Biden is a genuinely good man, but he has yet been unable to break through our national malady of denial, deceit, and distrust,” Romney wrote. “A return of Donald Trump would feed the sickness, probably rendering it incurable.”
The Utah Republican has frequently criticized Trump since the 2016 presidential race, during which he called the real estate mogul and then-GOP hopeful “a fraud.” He voted to convict the former president following both of his impeachments.
In the article, Romney also called out Congress, saying it has been disappointing in its failure to take action.
“Our elected officials put a finger in the wind more frequently than they show backbone against it,” he wrote. “Too often, Washington demonstrates the maxim that for evil to thrive only requires good men to do nothing.”
He also noted that the two parties have blamed each other, which he said has only added to the dismissal of problems.
“What accounts for the blithe dismissal of potentially cataclysmic threats?” He asked. “The left thinks the right is at fault for ignoring climate change and the attacks on our political system. The right thinks the left is the problem for ignoring illegal immigration and the national debt.”
Romney said he has hope for the future, saying he wants a president “who can rise above the din to unite us behind the truth” and adding that until such a leader holds the country’s high office, leadership must come from everyday Americans.
“While we wait, leadership must come from fathers and mothers, teachers and nurses, priests and rabbis, businessmen and businesswomen, journalists and pundits,” Romney wrote. “That will require us all to rise above ourselves—above our grievances and resentments—and grasp the mantle of leadership our country so badly needs.”