Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) attempted to criticize the “hate-filled morass” that political discourse in the country has become—and predictably he is being dunked on by people online.
Romney, seemingly unprompted, other than living in the country for the past few decades, bemoaned the “vile, vituperative, hate-filled morass” of our politics in a statement posted on Twitter.
In it, the Utah senator criticized President Donald Trump for calling Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), the Democrats 2020 vice presidential candidate, a “monster,” calling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “crazy,” calling for the arrest of former President Barack Obama, and attacking Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) after a plot to kidnap her was busted up by law enforcement.
He then equates all of that to Pelosi ripping up Trump’s State of the Union speech and political pundit Keith Olbermann—who recently left ESPN to start a YouTube channel—calling Trump a “terrorist.”
“The world is watching America with abject horror; more consequentially, our children are watching. Many Americans are frightened for our country—so divided, so angry, so mean, so violent,” the statement reads.
Romney then asks for people to “lower the heat” and for politicians to “tone it down.”
Predictably, Romney’s call for peace—amid a blistering and attack filled election cycle—isn’t getting the response he probably hoped for.
Much of the criticism of Romney’s statement focused on the senator’s attempt at “bothsideism” and equating a pundit’s YouTube video to Trump’s rhetoric.
Others pointed to Romney’s decision to support the nomination process of Supreme Court Justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett, which is emotionally charged and a political line in the sand for many people in the country.
Regardless, the statement was nearly universally panned.
Maybe Romney should have posted his thoughts about the political discourse on his secret Twitter to avoid the heat?