At an unhinged meeting at the White House on Friday, President Donald Trump reportedly raised the prospect of deploying the military and overturning the election outcome, which would fulfill the suggestion of conspiracist and former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who has proposed declaring martial law and tasking the military with holding a new presidential election. Needless to say, these suggestions are straight out of the playbook of dictators, and Trump’s interest in these plots threatens democracy in the United States. During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday morning, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) harshly criticized Trump’s attachment to anti-democratic conspiracies in the wake of the election, characterizing the president’s behavior as “embarrassing.”
Romney also characterized some of the ideas that Trump has been putting forward as “loopy” and “nutty.” At that same recent White House meeting, Trump reportedly raised the prospect of installing Sidney Powell as a special counsel to investigate the fraud that Trump claims plagued the recent presidential race. Previously, Powell has pushed utterly ludicrous ideas, like the notion that a widely used election management machine company (called Dominion Voting Systems) was in cahoots with an election-rigging scheme started by Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez — who died about seven years ago.
During the meeting, the president asked about Flynn’s suggestion of deploying the military, those briefed said. That was also shot down.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) December 19, 2020
On CNN, Romney observed as follows:
‘I understand the president is casting about, trying to find some way to have a different result than the one that was delivered by the American people, but it’s really sad in a lot of respects and embarrassing, because the president could right now be writing the last chapter of this administration with a victory lap with regards to the vaccine. After all, he pushed aggressively to get the vaccine developed and distributed — that’s happening on a quick timeframe. He could be going out championing this extraordinary success, and instead, he’s leaving Washington with a whole series of conspiracy theories and things that are so nutty and loopy that people are shaking their head wondering what in the world has gotten into this man? And I think that’s unfortunate, because he has more accomplishments than this last chapter suggests he’s gonna be known for.’
Watch below:
GOP Sen. Mitt Romney on Pres. Trump's latest efforts to overturn the election: “It’s really sad in a lot of respects and embarrassing … the President could, right now, be writing the last chapter of this administration with a victory lap with regards to the vaccine.” #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/dJdBMOZneW
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) December 20, 2020
Although Romney definitely sounds at least somewhat willing to give the president the benefit of the doubt, he’s one of the only leading Republicans in power who are willing to criticize Trump in any respect. Outside of criticism from a small number of Republican governors, the rest of the ranks of the Republican Party have been largely silent in the face of Trump’s anti-democratic post-election conspiracy bender.
SCOOP – Sidney Powell was in Oval Office last night as POTUS discussed making her special counsel for election fraud. @KannoYoungs and me https://t.co/wUB8ZMrPxp
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) December 19, 2020
Recently, Romney also criticized Trump for the White House’s ambivalent at best response to a widespread Russian hacking operation that targeted high-profile interests in the United States. Romney characterized the White House’s “silence” and “inaction” as “inexcusable.”
— Senator Mitt Romney (@SenatorRomney) December 17, 2020
A couple of days after Romney’s comments, Trump spoke out on Twitter about the situation… and provided cover for Putin, dismissing the reported Russian operation. Trump falsely ranted that “Russia, Russia, Russia is the priority chant when anything happens because Lamestream is, for mostly financial reasons, petrified of discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!).”
….discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!). There could also have been a hit on our ridiculous voting machines during the election, which is now obvious that I won big, making it an even more corrupted embarrassment for the USA. @DNI_Ratcliffe @SecPompeo
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2020
Featured Image (edited) via Gage Skidmore on WikiMedia Commons; available under a Creative Commons License
