This isn’t surprising, but it’s still a bit shocking to see it actually play out.

Mitt Romney has apparently not taken the reasoned, rational arguments of Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski to heart.

Instead, he’s decided to once again try to elevate himself by voting to remove President Trump from office.

Mitt Romney announces that he will vote to convict and remove President Trump from office on the abuse of power article.

"The president is guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust." pic.twitter.com/dYAVXFSms0

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) February 5, 2020

This guy can kiss any hopes of becoming the “elder statesman” of the party goodbye, much less any ridiculous hopes of running for president again.

Here’s more insufferable virtue signaling.

ROMNEY: "With my vote, I will tell my children and their children that I did my duty to the best of my ability, believing that my country expected it of me."

— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) February 5, 2020

It’s one thing to say you disagree with Trump’s actions. I disagree with a lot of Obama’s actions as well and thought they were an abuse of power. But it’s another thing to be so eaten up with jealousy and delusions of grandeur so as to vote to remove a president for something that’s clearly not impeachable. The fact that he waited until the last minute, after Trump’s triumphant SOTU speech, to announce this just shows how unbelievably petty this guy is.

Mitch McConnell and the GOP need to send a message here. I’m all for a big tent and disagreeing. Collins, Murkowski, and Alexander all managed to lay out their problems with Trump in a respectful, yet not overreacting manner. But Romney decided to do something purely to put the spotlight on himself. It’s time to make this guy a backbencher until Utah hopefully gets its head on straight.