Hot Air relates the interesting news that Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah has expressed the willingness to retire if Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and 2012 presidential candidate, were to agree to run for his seat. Hatch is in his eighties and may be inclined to retire in any case. On the other hand, Romney is pushing 70 and thus is no spring chicken himself.
Hot Air presents the Romney scenario as a win-win for everyone concerned. To be sure, some Trump supporters still remember with rage the plan that some had in the Republican establishment to rob the current president of the nomination and substitute some safe establishment type such as Romney or Paul Ryan.
Romney had also said some unkind things about Trump during the campaign.
On the other hand, Romney seems to have made his peace with the Trump presidency when he allowed himself to be considered as secretary of state. The consideration may have been a way of Trump toying with one of his erstwhile political enemies or it may have been a testing of the waters before he settled on Tillerson.
The theory is that Romney as a senator would be a bridge between various factions of the Republican caucus, able to work deals that would satisfy moderates, conservatives, and Trumpers alike. That is a beguiling idea, especially if certain parts of the agenda are left undone in 2019.
However, a lot of conservatives, both Trumpers and never-Trumpers believe that Romney blew the 2012 election which he should have won had he been a better candidate.
Romney failed to be aggressive on Benghazi and other issues, not responding to attacks, resulting in Barack Obama getting a second term. Obama got another four years to wreck untold damage to the United States and the world beyond.
Of course, Romney would just have to get the votes of people in Utah, who may be more forgiving.
And Trump would have a powerful incentive to back Romney in that he would keep Even McMullin, a die-hard never-Trumper who mounted a write-in independent run for the presidency in 2016 and still snipes at the president at every opportunity in social media. That sort of person needs stopping from going up the greasy pole before he becomes a headache.
