"In terms of policy, he's been all over the map. And even in the column he misstates the conservative view about trade," the Republican consultant said.
January 2, 2019

Oh my. Mrs. Scarborough just can't contain herself, praising Mitt Romney this morning for his cynical editorial attacking Trump.

"This piece is quite incredible. he hasn't even started his job. He hasn't even been sworn in as senator for the great state of Utah, but Rick Tyler, I feel like this is Jeff Flake, Ben Sasse, Bob Corker, definitely a touch of McCain all wrapped up in one," she said, comparing Mittens to her other beloved centrist gods who specialize in making principled noise but doing little.

"This could be a very different dynamic if this is what we're getting out of Senator Mitt Romney right out of the box," she gushed.

"I think it's welcomed, and I give him a lot of credit that he's not even sworn in yet. He will be sworn in by the vice president, which will make an interesting swearing-in after having published this op-ed but he's essentially laying down the gauntlet he's not going to be quiet. And I think that's a good thing," Tyler said.

"My criticism of Romney, if I have one, and this sounds very harsh, but in a sense, Romney is Trump's ideological twin. Romney is a man of great character. There's no question about that. He certainly can speak about it but in terms of policy, he's been all over the map. and even in the column, he misstates the conservative view about trade. He said he supports Trump's approach to trade with China.

"I couldn't disagree more. I think trump is 180 degrees out of phase. Remember, there was zero, zero, soybean imports to China from the United States in November. compare that to 4.7 million metric tons in November 2017."

You're right about one thing, Rick -- Romney is a man of "great character" -- but only if you define character as flaming hypocrisy. Remember Bain Capital and how Romney made his wealth?

We already know the Villagers love him and that their institutional memories extend back only to the last commercial break. But Romney's Bain Capital bought companies, stripped them of their assets, and then burned them to the ground.

This is what passes for Republican "character."

And Romney's op-ed is only him laying down a cynical marker that he is willing to replace Trump on the Republican ticket in 2020.

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