Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, waits to participate in a mock swearing-in ceremony in the Old Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019, as the 116th Congress begins. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Just in case you weren’t sure if Romney’s vote was principled or about being an attention hog, there’s yet more evidence it’s the latter.

As my colleague Jennifer Van Laar noted on Twitter yesterday, Romney had two embargoed interviews lined up, held his decision until right before the vote, and then strutted around like he’d just saved the republic. So the idea that this was just a solemn, serious decision for him doesn’t hold water.

But apparently, his virtue signaling knows no bounds, because it’s now been revealed that he also sent a letter to all the GOP Senate members lecturing them on why he voted the way he did.

Here’s some of what it says via The Daily Wire.

READ IT: Here’s The Note Romney Gave To Every Republican Explaining Why He Was Going To Vote ‘Guilty’ With Democrats https://t.co/gINxrntqBd pic.twitter.com/K8gS5wFQnQ

— The Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) February 6, 2020

“Does anyone seriously believe I would consent to these consequences other than from an inescapable conviction that my oath before God demanded it of me?” he asks…

“As a Senator-juror, I swore an oath, before God, to exercise ‘impartial justice,’” Romney’s hand-signed letter to his peers begins. “I am a profoundly religious person. I take an oath before God as enormously consequential. I knew from the outset that being tasked with judging the President, the leader of my own party, would be the most difficult decision I have ever faced. I was not wrong.”

“Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and disruptive violation of one’s oath of office that I can imagine,” he continues.

You know what people trying to make a scene, gather media plaudits, and bask in the spotlight do? They write a self-serving, preachy letter to their colleagues explaining how their decision was actually the right one before God.

If this weren’t about Romney’s ego, he’d have made his vote and let the sleeping dog lie. But he’s done the opposite, from the interviews, to the Senate floor dramatics, to this letter.

Here’s a little more of it.

“I am aware that there are people in my party and in my state who will strenuously disapprove of my decision, and in some quarters, I will be vehemently denounced,” he states. “I am sure to hear abuse from the President and his supporters. Does anyone seriously believe I would consent to these consequences other than from an inescapable conviction that my oath before God demanded it of me?”

“As it is with each senator, my vote is an act of conviction,” he concludes. “We have come to different conclusions, fellow senators, but I trust we have all followed the dictates of our conscience.”

This guy is just insufferable. This was a political process and Romney is presenting it as a religious rite of passage.

Besides, none of his proclamations wash given his past support for abortion, and to be sure, that lukewarmness continues today. Romney still won’t support the repealing of Roe v. Wade. He’s also come down on the wrong side of the religious liberty debate in the past few years. Not once during Obama’s terms could he be bothered to speak out against all manner of immoralities.

But the one thing that will get his religious convictions going is the orange man or something. Come on. Anyone that buys this is a total sucker. Romney loves how this is playing out. He loves the attention, he loves the media praise, and he loves being the finger wagger at his own party. That’s what this was always about.

In the end, I’m less concerned with Romney’s actual vote (it’s one vote, who cares?) than the immense amount of gaslighting going on about Romney’s motives. I’d have more respect for the guy and his defenders if they just admitted the obvious.