Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney makes a range of observations and criticisms in his latest essay, “America Is in Denial,” published in The Atlantic on July 4 — commentary that’s just panoramic enough, with only one individual called on the carpet by name, that the senator from Utah might be seen as appealing for something like a national consensus on solving the problems we face. Not least among them, the fact that we can’t seem to find a national consensus about anything.
Fair enough — reach should exceed grasp, right? But in the current gridlock backdrop, it’s not unreasonable to suggest that Romney’s comments — relatively benign, mildly reproving — could also be the genial opening overture for a 2024 Romney campaign. He’ll vigorously deny this, of course, pro forma that’s to be expected. Some of Romney’s essay observations go out of their way to position him as a nonentity in any serious talk about the 2024 derby.
And It’s still early days in the discussion of the next presidential campaign; a lot of names will be floated in the months to come. Most of those names will sink. But Romney’s essay contains not only a sweeping overview of where we are, but also the slightest, tantalizing hint of where we could be going, in 2024 and further, depending on the breaks, of course. And the candidate.
◊ ◊ ◊
Romney’s comments strive for ideological balance; he calls the left and the right to account, more or less equally, for a willful, self-indulgent disregard of the gravity of social, environmental and economic events unfolding before us.
He writes: “The left thinks the right is at fault for ignoring climate change and the attacks on our political system. The right thinks the left is the problem for ignoring illegal immigration and the national debt. But wishful thinking happens across the political spectrum. More and more, we are a nation in denial.
“I have witnessed time and again — in myself and in others — a powerful impulse to believe what we hope to be the case. We don’t need to cut back on watering, because the drought is just part of a cycle that will reverse. With economic growth, the debt will take care of itself. January 6 was a false-flag operation. A classic example of denial comes from Donald Trump: “I won in a landslide.” Perhaps this is a branch of the same delusion that leads people to feed money into slot machines: Because I really want to win, I believe that I will win.
“When entire countries fail to confront serious challenges, it doesn't end well. During the past half century, we Americans have lived in a very forgiving time, and seeing the world through rose-colored glasses had limited consequences. The climate was stable, our economy dwarfed the competition, democracy was on the rise, and our military strength made the U.S. the sole global hyperpower. Today, every one of those things has changed. If we continue to ignore the real threats we face, America will inevitably suffer serious consequences.”
◊ ◊ ◊
The “we” Romney uses in those passages feels genuinely ecumenical; the senator expresses an all-in sentiment vis-à-vis the economy and the environment that’s facially hard to argue with. But then, Romney dons another hat, maybe one with the words “White House hopeful” in the sweatband.
The senator again: “President Joe Biden is a genuinely good man, but he has yet been unable to break through our national malady of denial, deceit, and distrust. A return of Donald Trump would feed the sickness, probably rendering it incurable. Congress is particularly disappointing: Our elected officials put a finger in the wind more frequently than they show backbone against it. Too often, Washington demonstrates the maxim that for evil to thrive only requires good men to do nothing.
“I hope for a president who can rise above the din to unite us behind the truth. Several contenders with experience and smarts stand in the wings; we intently watch to see if they also possess the requisite character and ability to bring the nation together in confronting our common reality. While we wait, leadership must come from fathers and mothers, teachers and nurses, priests and rabbis, businessmen and businesswomen, journalists and pundits. That will require us all to rise above ourselves — above our grievances and resentments — and grasp the mantle of leadership our country so badly needs.”
◊ ◊ ◊
Points to Romney for standing by his previously stated belief that Trump was bad for the country; he shares with the multitudes, on Capitol Hill and the real world, the view that a second Trump term in the White House would be disastrous. But right now, Republicans opposing Trump are slowly becoming rhetorical low-hanging fruit, and, given the serial shocks of the Jan. 6 Select Committee hearings, more and more of a given. A new New York Times-Siena College poll doesn’t help; 64 percent of primary voters under 35, and 65 percent of those with a college degree told pollsters they’d pull the lever in the primary season for someone else.
Romney joins this chorus in his essay, but the throughline of his piece is so tidy and anodyne and kum ba yah, and strangely written from the perspective of an everyday citizen, instead of a senator and a former candidate for the American presidency. Note the odd distancing language: “I hope for a president …” “We intently watch to see …” “Several contenders with experience and smarts stand in the wings …” Really, senator? And is there any reason why one of these “several contenders” couldn’t be you? With all this hoping and watching and standing in the wings, t’s almost like he’s outside his own identity.
While he’s been a frequent op-ed contributor for years, this could be Romney’s first re-emergence on the presidential political stage. Or just the expression of a concerned American citizen with clout and nine figures in the bank. He certainly tried to write the Atlantic piece like an ordinary citizen might. But that’s not really what he is. He’s a senator whose comparatively moderate political inclinations mark him as a natural antidote to Trump, and, maybe, a palatable candidate to pitch to persuadable voters in the primaries. If he decides to do it.
We can’t know Romney’s endgame, but if he truly intends to be a spectator in 2024, he’s mightily contradicted himself. If he’s just looking thanks, he undercuts the thesis of his entire piece: There are no looky-loos in the current crisis. We are all in. In his Atlantic essay, Mitt Romney wrote: “Too often, Washington demonstrates the maxim that for evil to thrive only requires good men to do nothing.” On the basis of that morally sound thinking, there’s every good reason to believe Senator Mitt Romney will be seeking the U.S. presidency in 2024.