In an op-ed published in The Washington Post, Republican party´s 2012 nominee for president and incoming senator Mitt Romney, made harsh critics against President Donald Trump.
The article published on Tuesday, states the Republican´s doubts about the US president leadership and deepens the differences between the two politicians. According to his considerations, Trump “has not risen to the mantle of the office”
He also pointed out that the White House leader was not his choice for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. However, after his triumph “I hoped his campaign would refrain from resentment and name-calling. It did not”.
A “phony, a fraud” were the harsh words that the former presidential candidate used about Trump during the election campaign.
The current president’s response was to call him “ungrateful”, referring to the help he had given Romney in the 2012 primaries.
The division that the American nation is suffering, the resentment and the anger of its population, demand a solid leadership that, according to Romney, the president in charge does not have.
“A president should demonstrate the essential qualities of honesty and integrity, and elevate the national discourse with comity and mutual respect”. That leadership attitude is, according to the former governor of Massachusetts, the “province where the incumbent’s shortfall has been most glaring.”
On his Twitter account, Trump replied that he won big the presidential elections while Romney did not. And he called on the senator to focus on issues where he can be useful.
Mexico is paying for the Wall through the new USMCA Trade Deal. Much of the Wall has already been fully renovated or built. We have done a lot of work. $5.6 Billion Dollars that House has approved is very little in comparison to the benefits of National Security. Quick payback!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2019
The inclusion of James Mattis as Defense Secretary and John Kelly as Chief of Staff in the presidential cabinet emerged as a good sign for Romney, “but on balance, his conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions last month, is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office”.
As for the foreign policy handling, the incoming senator maintains that the recent withdrawal of US troops from Syria, and Mattis resignnation in protest of such action, has been very disturbing. He wrote that “his actions this month” made a deep decline.
About the United States traditional allies, Romney stressed the importance of maintaining stability with those countries which can help to reinforce the security of the nation.
By: José Espinoza