Shapiro At ‘National Review’: Here’s Why Mitt Romney’s Op-Ed Was A Rotten Idea

To open the New Year, newly minted senator Mitt Romney (R., Utah) unleashed a broadside against President Trump in the pages of the Washington Post. The piece hit a bevy of familiar notes: Trump’s lack of character, his vacillating policy preferences, his inability to unite Americans within a meaningful social fabric — and worse, his unwillingness to try. The bottom line, for Romney: Trump “has not risen to the mantle of the office.”

The essay, in truth, reads like the opener of a presidential campaign. It’s a stock speech replete with broad recommendations on policy (more strength in foreign policy, a call to “repair our fiscal foundation”) and ersatz optimism (“I remain optimistic about our future . . . noble instincts live in the hearts of Americans”). Romney states that Americans “will eschew the politics of anger and fear if they are summoned to the responsibility by leaders in homes, in churches, in schools, in businesses, in government.” Presumably, Romney considers himself such a possible leader.