Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) shocked the world when he announced, perhaps for the billionth time, that he would not be supporting former President Donald Trump in the upcoming 2024 presidential election. During another interview, he indicated that he has not ruled out voting for current President Joe Biden.

Romney has been a leading opponent of the Orange Man What Is Bad™ since 2016 and has often been trotted out on various news outlets to prattle on about how horrible Trump is. During a conversation with NBC News’ Kristen Welker, the senator and failed presidential candidate indicated he would not support Trump due to his “authoritarian” tendencies.

Asked by host Kristen Welker if he’d vote for Biden, given what he said about Trump, Romney said: “I’m not going to describe who I’ll rule out other than President Trump.”

His remarks came after Trump said at a Fox News town hall Tuesday that he would not be a dictator if he is elected into the White House next year, “except for Day One.”

“I think we agree that we have looked at his behavior, and his behavior suggests that this is a person who will impose his will if he can, on the judicial system on the legislative branch and on the entire nation,” Romney said.

“I mean, when he called people to come to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, that was not a random date,” he added, referring to the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by Trump supporters. “That was the date when peaceful transfer of power was to occur — he called that on purpose. There’s no question he has authoritarian rulings and interests and notions which he will try and impose. That’s dangerous for the country.”

So, if having “authoritarian rulings and interests” is a disqualifying factor, why would Romney even be open to backing Biden, who has shown time and time again that he has no problem with using the power of the state to force his will on the country?

Perhaps Romney has forgotten how President Biden tried to force Americans to take the COVID-19 vaccine by cracking down on employers. I’m old enough to remember when the White House attempted to impose a rule mandating that businesses with more than 100 employees force their workers to either take the vax, or be subjected to weekly testing. He might have succeeded too, if it hadn’t been for a pesky Supreme Court ruling.

While it might be easy to forget Biden’s vax mandate, surely Romney recalls the president’s holy crusade against gun ownership in America, right? Despite not having enough support in Congress, the president has exploited every single mass shooting victim in America since he took office to push for more restrictions on firearms. He has weaponized the ATF against responsible gun owners. Wouldn’t Romney, as an anti-authoritarian, have a serious problem with this?

But maybe if the senator forgot about the vax mandates and anti-gun agenda, he might remember how the Biden administration attempted to shut down dissenting voices about COVID-19 and vaccines on social media. Under this president, the government has paid oodles of cash to private organizations working with social media companies to suppress accounts, which espoused views concerning the pandemic that were not approved by the state. Indeed, this initiative even targeted a sitting member of Congress. Doesn’t using the government to silence speech reek of authoritarianism?

Sure, one can criticize Trump’s comments about being a dictator, and even his suggestion that the state should “come down” on MSNBC and other left-wing media outlets. However, saying authoritarian things is not quite the same as doing authoritarian things. Biden has shown himself to be an authoritarian even since before he became president. If Romney were a principled man who despised authoritarianism, which he certainly is not, he would definitely rule out Biden regardless of his feelings against Trump.