Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) just compared Donald Trump to a star pitcher staying on the mound beyond his prime, loss after loss. The Utah senator’s comparison is apt. After all, Trump and Trump-endorsed candidates lost in 2018, 2020, and once again in 2022. Romney is one of the few remaining Republicans who have managed to survive criticizing Donald Trump. After the midterm elections where most of the ex-president’s candidates lost, the GOP may finally be able to loosen the ex-president’s grip on the party.
The Utah senator told MSNBC that “if you keep losing games, try to put some new players on the field:”
‘If we want to start winning, we need someone else on the mound. And we’ve got a very strong bench that can come out,” Romney said. “I know, there’s some fans that love him. Just like, you know, an aging pitcher, there are always fans that want to keep them there forever. But if you keep losing games, try to put some new players on the field.’
Arguably, Trump has lost the Republican party its hold on Alabama, Nevada, and possibly Arizona. His candidate choice for the Alabama senate race was yet another sports player acting well beyond his prime. Compare that retired football player with Reverend and Senator Raphael Warnock (D-AL), and the degrees of separation between the two candidates are manifold.
In addition, the Democrats have taken a number of governorships throughout the nation. It appears that the Republicans will indeed retake the House of Representatives, but only by a handful of seats. That will make leading the two GOP House factions extremely difficult. There is the “team normal” Republicans as Vice Chair of the January 6 Select Committee Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) calls Republicans such as Romney. And then there has been the tangled overgrowth of the Tea Party movement, the Freedom Caucus.
At the Anti-Defamation League’s Never Is Now Summit on Antisemitism and Hate, Cheney said, as CNN reported:
‘I think that it was a clear victory for Team Normal, and we have a huge amount of work to do. But I think that you saw in really important races around the country people coming together to say we believe in democracy,” the Wyoming Republican added. “We believe in standing up for the Constitution, and for the Republic. And a real rejection of the toxicity, and the hate, and vitriol, and of Donald Trump.’
The Republicans’ losing streak could be directly tied to the former president, especially while he has continued to moan that his return to the presidency was stolen from him in 2020. But facts stated otherwise. Since Trump has been in office:
- 2018 GOP lost the House, kept the Senate
- 2020 GOP lost both House and Senate
- 2021 GOP lost the White House to President Joe Biden
Trump has called. a press conference Tuesday evening at Mar-a-Lago to make an announcement. It is expected that he will announce his third run for president. Party members have urged him to wait until after the Georgia runoff election in December. But the former POTUS apparently will follow his own counsel.
Possible Republican presidential candidate in 2024 Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) may be “a new face in the Republican Party.” Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) commented:
‘I think the question is, who is the current leader of the Republican Party?’
Events should shake out shortly whether Trump still carries the weight he once did.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
Christie writes Gloria Christie Reports & Three White Lions Substack newsletters and a Three White Lions podcast available on Apple, Spotify, etc. She is a political journalist for the liberal online newspaper The Bipartisan Report. Written in her own unique style with a twist of humor. Christie’s Mueller Report Adventures In Bite-Sizes a real-life compelling spy mystery (in progress). Find her here on Facebook. Or at Three White Lions her book on Amazon Kindle Vella and the Gloria Christie Three White Lions podcast on Apple, Spotify, etc.
