Mitt Romney: I Am Not Leading a Never Trump Coup

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) suggested Friday that he is not leading a Never Trump Republican coup against President Donald Trump.

Sen. Romney, who has served as a frequent critic of President Trump, denied that he is leading a Never Trump GOP coup against the president.

“I don’t believe I’m leading a wing of the party. Because there’s no wing that’s very large that is aligned with me,” Romney said this week in an interview with Politico.

“Since I’ve been back, I have not spoken with a single senator about the impeachment process or about the implications of the process that’s going on or how I would vote,” the failed 2012 Republican presidential candidate said.

Romney’s interview follows as President Trump called the freshman Utah senator a “pompous ass” and Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, asked if Romney is  “colluding to bring down our president.” The president’s son shared a video from the conservative Club for Growth group, criticizing Romney’s anti-Trump tactics:

Sen. Romney has frequently criticized and opposed Trump’s legislative agenda since before he took office. Before Vice President Mike Pence swore-in Romney to become the junior senator from Utah, Romney took to the leftist Washington Post to slam President Trump.

Sen. Romney has on multiple occasions voted against Trump’s national emergency declaration, which allows him to secure the southern border by reappropriating defense funds.

The Utah senator delivered a speech on the Senate floor Thursday afternoon, issuing a sharp rebuke of the president’s move to withdraw troops from northern Syria.

Trump’s decision to withdraw from Syria and allegedly “abandon the Kurds,” Romney said, “will stand as a bloodstain in the annals of American history.”

Further, Romney attacked the “administration,” or President Trump, for speaking “cavalierly, even flippantly, even as our ally has suffered death and casualty.”

Sen. Romney even discounted President Trump’s efforts to cease America’s “endless wars.”

Despite his opposition to Trump’s policies on immigration and foreign policy, the Utah senator said he and Trump see “eye-to-eye” on most issues.

Romney’s opposition to Trump’s America First policies has incensed Trump-supporting Republicans in Utah. One even suggested he might primary Romney should he run for reelection in 2024.

Leland Pollock, a Garfield County commissioner said, “He’s made some bad comments about Donald Trump, and Donald Trump has done everything we’ve asked him to do. If [Romney] decides to run in 2024, I’ll even put my black hat in the ring. I would run myself.”

Darin Bushman, a Piute County commissioner, said, “The people who are in love with Mitt Romney right now are the Democrats. And there aren’t a lot of them in Utah. I actually did vote for him. And I regret that to this day. If I had to do it over tomorrow, I would vote for the Democrat.”