Sen. Mitt Romney leveled a pointed critique of President Donald Trump on Sunday, criticizing his efforts to get foreign governments to investigate political opponents, his abandonment of the Kurds and his character.
In an on-camera interview with Axios and a published interview with The Atlantic, Romney listed what he sees as Trump’s failings.
- On calling on China to probe Joe Biden: “We certainly can’t have presidents asking foreign countries to provide something of political value. That is, after all, against the law.”
- On abandoning the Kurds: “A very dark spot in America’s history. We should never abandon our friends.”
- Comparing Trump’s actions to Barack Obama’s ignoring the red line he drew in Syria: “This is worse than that, because it says … America will walk away from his friends and from its allies.”
- On character: “People will recognize that character really is important in our leaders and that it’s important for our leaders to do things that unify us, that welcome people who come here legally as immigrants, that in no way signal to anybody in America that they’re less of an American because of where they came from or their sexual orientation or their race or their religion.”
In his interview with McCay Coppins from The Atlantic, Romney called Trump’s presidency “an inflection point in American history.”
“I don’t look at myself as being a historical figure,” he hastens to add, “but I do think these are critical times. And I hope that what I’m doing will open the way for people to take a different path.”
Romney has been accused of trying to herd fellow Republicans in the Senate to remove Trump via impeachment, but he says that’s not the case.
“At this stage, I am strenuously avoiding trying to make any judgment,” Romney told Coppins.
