You have made many good cabinet choices President Trump. General Michael Flynn – National Security Adviser, Jeff Sessions – Attorney General, Mike Pompeo – CIA Director, Nikki Haley – Ambassador to UN – all choices I applaud. And I would love to see Wilbur Ross get Commerce Secretary and would especially love to see Ret. Gen James Mattis become Defense Secretary.
Which brings us to the Secretary of State. In one sense I liked that you decided to bring Romney in. It showed you as a better man than your critics portrayed – a man willing to move past the election and all its harshness (see: Temperamentally Sound Choices). But then again, you had already done that with some other choices and meetings – Ted Cruz and Nikki Halley leap to mind.
What I liked about the Romney meeting was two-fold. One – it signaled that you were not going to simply gift the Secretary of State position to Giuliani for his campaign loyalty. I don’t think Rudy is particularly suited to the Secretary of State position myself – He’s more an attack dog than diplomat by nature. Two – it signaled to the nation that you wanted to be a president of unity and were willing to try to move past pettiness and small-minded revenge.
BUT…
I liked the Trump/Romney meeting. It does NOT mean I like Romney for Secretary of State. If Mitt were to be given the position it would be exactly that – given – a gift. And I cannot see why Romney specifically deserves it or is particularly well-suited to that role. And if you do choose to move forward with Romney it comes at a cost – a very real one.
I did not truly and immediately appreciate the raw emotional chord Romney struck in many of your long-time supporters – the ones that formed your base – the ones that were there from the beginning. The ones that really mattered. Their dislike (it’s actually an emotion stronger than the word dislike) of Romney runs broad and it runs deep. This is something that matters to them. It is seen as an insult, an affront to the work they did. And if they see it as such then so should you President Trump.
A line I saw on twitter truly jumped out at me. I’m afraid I am going to have to paraphrase from memory and I can’t credit the author (email me if it’s you) but here goes:
“We lost friendships/family members over our support of you (Trump). Romney would be unforgivable and a slap in the face.”
Short, concise in its twitter lingo and exceedingly direct. I lost track of how many likes it got. And the reaction was similar millions of times over.
Given that Romney is not the perfect choice on his specific merits he should be disqualified simply in honor of those supporters who were there with you all along. I might argue differently if Romney was a truly great candidate but he is not. And in deference to the feelings and opinions of the men and women who were out in the early battle lines he should be dropped.
Romney is simply not worth the cost.
So President Trump – listen to your supporters – your early base. Kellyanne Conway has. I know you saw her publicly tweeted messages on the matter. Listen to her as well. If it matters that much to those folks it should matter to you.
And there are far better choices.
One of my personal favorites would be John Bolton – and you two might find your personalities mesh well. I am guessing you might find in Mr. Bolton something of a kindred spirit. The left has successfully portrayed him as a major architect of the Iraq War. This is false and manages to ignore his true credentials at the same time. He would be a worthy choice.
Romney is not. Nor is he worth it.
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