Retiring Sen. Mitt Romney is eviscerating Democrats for hemorrhaging its working-class base and faulted staunch progressives and “woke scolds” for the exodus.
The outgoing Utah senator credited President-elect Donald Trump for remaking the GOP into the celebration of the working class and predicted that each events are heading for a recalibration of their insurance policies.
“Democrats pushed them out,” Romney, 77, instructed CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
“The Bernie Sanders-Elizabeth Warren faction of the Democratic Occasion, with a few of this defund the police … and organic males in girls’s sports activities — this stuff had lots of people within the working class simply flee the Democrat Occasion.”
Final month, Trump, 78, grew to become the primary Republican to win the favored vote for the presidency in 20 years. The president-elect additionally notched essentially the most sturdy help from minority voters of a Republican in many years.
Many within the celebration’s progressive wing have faulted the Dems for shifting extra to the middle within the 2024 cycle and for not nominating populist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as the usual bearer in 2016.
“One of many challenges in my celebration is that our insurance policies don’t essentially line up with the pursuits of our voters. And so there’ll be some reorientation,” Romney mentioned of the GOP.
“The Democrat Occasion’s the one in bother. I imply, I don’t understand how they get better,” he went on. “They’ve misplaced their base — union guys and gals have left … the Democratic Occasion is seen not as wealthy individuals however as school professors and woke scolds.”
Vice President Kamala Harris had seemingly deserted a lot of her lefty positions from the 2020 cycle akin to banning fracking, decriminalizing unlawful border crossings and Medicare for All.
She additionally labored to court docket Republican voters by spotlighting help from celebration turncoats like former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.). Finally, Trump swept all seven battleground states.
“The Democrats have badly misinterpret the route of the nation and the angle of the nation,” he mentioned. “And President Trump took benefit of that, as nicely he ought to.”
Regardless of being a vocal critic of Trump, Romney acknowledged that “MAGA is the Republican Occasion” and predicted that Vice President-elect JD Vance is probably to win the GOP’s presidential nod in 2028.
The Beehive State senator will not be divulging whom he voted for in 2024, however he kept away from making an endorsement within the 2024 cycle, hoping that staying out of it might protect a few of his sway on the celebration going ahead.
Again in 2016, Romney had written in his spouse, Ann, for president.
The previous 2012 GOP presidential nominee additionally urged that Trump has a mandate heading into his subsequent administration.
“He received overwhelmingly. He mentioned what he was going to do, and that’s what he’s doing,” Romney mentioned. “Individuals are saying, oh, I don’t like this appointment or this coverage that he’s speaking about however these are the issues he mentioned he was going to do when he ran.”
Nonetheless, Romney admitted that Trump had tapped “an uncommon assortment of people” which can be definitely “not the individuals I might have chosen.”
Anchor Jake Tapper introduced up how Trump has urged members of the since-defunct Home Choose Jan. 6 Committee ought to go to jail in an interview that aired final week and has beforehand used language about focusing on different political rivals.
However regardless of their stark variations, Romney mentioned he’s not too fearful about Trump going after him.
“No, really, I’ve been fairly clear all through my life. I’m not notably fearful about legal investigations,” Romney replied when requested if he was terrified of being focused. “I don’t understand how a lot, by the best way, of what the president says is hyperbole.”
I believe President Trump is more likely to attempt to concentrate on the longer term.”
Romney additionally mirrored on his legacy and predicted that regardless of Trump’s election victory, historical past may not choose him nicely for his machinations main as much as the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
“I’m unsure historical past is written by winners on this case. Politics is written by — by winners. However the historical past books are sometimes written by students of 1 form or one other,” he mentioned. “I believe attacking the Capitol … might be seen as being an abuse and a felony and being incorrect.”
Romney introduced his retirement final 12 months however pressured that he’s “not retiring from the struggle.” He might be succeeded within the higher chamber by Sen.-elect John Curtis (R-Utah).
“I don’t assume historical past will keep in mind Mitt Romney,” the outgoing senator mirrored on his legacy. “I need my household to recollect me as somebody who stood up for the issues I believed, was not embarrassed by my elementary beliefs, who beloved the nation, and did what I believed was proper.”
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