Senator Mitt Romney, a frequent critic of Donald Trump who will soon resign from Congress, stopped short of his criticism of the president-elect’s behavior but said Mr. Trump and his organization MAGA are now defining the Republican Party.
“I, as you know, am not a supporter of President Trump. I did not support him in this election. I have no last chance to run, especially for moral issues,” the Utah Republican, who was the GOP candidate in 2012, told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an in-depth interview on “State of the Union” on Sunday.
But Romney acknowledged Mr. Trump’s treatment of the party he once led.
“MAGA is the Republican Party and Donald Trump is the Republican Party today,” he said.
Asked about his criticism of Trump, which launched the president-elect to the White House in 2016, Romney described himself as “outspoken” and said he felt Trump had “messed up the country, it’s not our party, it wasn’t going to win,” but he said, “I was wrong about that.” .”
“I think a lot of people don’t agree with me. I am willing to live with it. I just emphasize different things than what I think the public is doing now,” he said.
But Romney argued that the incoming president deserves a “chance” to make good on his promises upon his return to the White House.
“I agree with him on a lot of policies. I don’t agree with him on other things,” Romney said of Trump. “But it’s like, well, give him a chance to do what he said he’s going to do and see how it goes.”
Asked about Trump’s decision to make cabinet picks, Romney called it “an unusual collection of people, not people I would have picked,” but said Trump “has a right” to make the decision because he won the election.
But, Romney said, “The Senate has a responsibility to ensure that these people are legitimate, that there is no skeleton that can embarrass them or the country” and that the nominees are qualified for this position.
Elected to the Senate in 2018, Romney has become known as a unique voice in the chamber who wanted to take over his party. During Trump’s first impeachment trial, Romney was the only Senate Republican found guilty of abuse of power. In 2021, he was one of seven Senate Republicans who crossed party lines to find Trump guilty of inciting the January 6 uprising at the Capitol.
Asked what he thinks the legacy of the January 6 attack will be, Romney said he thinks it will be seen as “the darkest day in American history” and that “it’s sad that there are some in the MAGA world who try and write about it, but I don’t think it will.”
But Romney also said that he thinks that American institutions will stand up in the coming years “because I think people, when faced with the reality of what is at stake, will want to protect the roots of freedom.”
Mr. Trump and his allies have suggested that, in his second term, he can free the Department of Justice from his political enemies.
Asked if he was worried that he or his family could be targeted politically by Trump, Romney said, “No, really, I’ve been clean my whole life. I’m not too worried about a criminal investigation.”
“I don’t know how much, by the way, of what the president is saying is hyperbole,” he said, adding, “I think President Trump might try to focus on the future.”
The Utah Republican also had words of praise for Vice President-elect JD Vance, calling the Ohio senator “brilliant” and predicting that he will be the GOP candidate in 2028.
“If you were to ask me who’s going to be elected in 2028, I think it would be JD Vance, okay? He’s smart, well-spoken, part of the MAGA movement,” Romney said, dismissing past criticism of Vance as quotes from “the past,” and saying, “I’m not going to repeat history, and we’ve worked together in the Senate ever since.”
Reflecting on the results of the recent presidential election, Romney said Trump deserves “credit” for bringing working-class voters to the GOP from the Democrats.
“Look, the Republican Party has become the party of working-class, middle-class voters, and you have to give Donald Trump credit for doing that, taking it away from the Democrats,” he said.
Romney said that after some voters crossed over to the GOP from the Democratic Party, “there will be adjustments that will be needed in my party,” but that the Democratic Party “is the one in trouble.”
He also reflected on his political career at the national level, including his unsuccessful run against Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election, and how he bounced back from high-profile attacks by Democrats during his presidential bid to praise from Democrats. during his time in the Senate because of his break with Trump.
“When I look back at the industry and think about the anger around any mistake that I or a member of the campaign made, something small, these things are wrapped up in a big part,” he said. “It’s funny to see the kind of things that, looking back, look silly.”
Romney said Obama was “in some ways wise to follow me saying, ‘Here’s a man who’s rich in business, we’re going to show him as a judge who doesn’t care about people.’ He went with that list, put it out there before I could really answer and was successful in doing so.”
Romney deflected a question about how he would want history to remember him, dismissing his legacy as “a footnote to someone reading history,” but saying he would want his family to remember him.
“I want my family to remember me as a person who supported what I believed in, who was not ashamed of my important beliefs, who loved the country and did what I think was right to help protect a great nation on earth,” he said. .
CNN’s Clare Foran and Morgan Rimmer contributed this report.
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