WASHINGTON -- As House Democrats push forward with an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, Republicans have largely rushed to Trump's defense, or at least tempered their criticism to avoid his furious reprisals.Among the handful of exceptions, though, there has been none louder or more
WASHINGTON — As House Democrats push forward with an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, Republicans have largely rushed to Trump’s defense, or at least tempered their criticism to avoid his furious reprisals.
Romney’s public statements reflect what many in his party believe privately but are almost uniformly unwilling to say: that they are faced with damning revelations about the president that are difficult to explain away, and are unsure of whether there is more damaging material to come.
Romney’s willingness to level measured criticism at Trump has annoyed liberal activists, who see his comments as woefully insufficient to the moment. It has also enraged the president’s most loyal allies, who view the Utah senator as a resentful foe. Yet it could prove most pivotal with a third constituency: his fellow lawmakers.
Now, though, Romney holds a crucial position of power. He could be part of an effort to eventually remove Trump from office, and is already in the ear — and perhaps conscience — of other Republicans. The president’s leading advisers recognize the threat posed by as high-profile a figure as Romney, perhaps the second most well-known elected Republican in Washington, and are trying to isolate him. After his critical remarks about the Ukraine affair, Trump hit back at the senator by posting a video on Twitter showing a glum Romney at the moment on election night in 2012 that he learned he had lost the presidential race.
Yet since Romney first went public with his alarm on Sunday — saying Trump’s alleged conduct was “troubling in the extreme” — other Republicans have gradually started to sound notes of concern. Further, he is deeply uneasy with the behavior of Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer and a rival to Romney in the 2008 Republican presidential primary.And even as he insisted he was not attempting to nudge other Republicans, it was impossible to miss his indignation.
“It’s just in human nature to see things in a way that is consistent with your own worldview and your sense of what’s necessary for the preservation of your position of power,” Romney said. “I don’t know why I’m not afflicted to the same degree as perhaps others are in that regard; perhaps it’s because I’m old and have done other things.”
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