I remember the 2012 elections like they were yesterday. After a long, grueling fight, Mitt Romney won the Republican primary, but the fight had taken a lot of wind out of his sales. The party’s infighting that year was fever-pitched with people left and right fighting against the establishment candidate. By the time Romney was selected, many Republicans decided that instead of voting, they’d pack up their toys and go home.
While the Republican party was trying to stop the bleeding, the Democrats were launching salvos of their own at Mitt Romney. According to them, he was another rich white man who didn’t care about poor people, minorities, he hated gays, he gave a woman cancer, etc. You know, the usual fare.
Romney’s defeat was inevitable. Between the entirety of the leftist attack machine bringing its weight to bear and a Republican party that couldn’t attract its own members to Romney’s battle lines, much less independent voters, Romney went in outgunned, outnumbered, and outmaneuvered. He was, for all intents and purposes, the most hated man in politics at that time.
But as bad as Romney’s defeat was, it left Republicans — and to a larger extent, Americans — with an understanding about what was both wanted and needed in order to take the country back. That understanding paved the way for Donald J. Trump to waltz into the White House with little difficulty. He’s the exact opposite of Romney and being complete opposites, Romney and Trump have never gotten along and both have continuously exchanged blows. Romney has lost every bout, making him overtly bitter toward the President.
Finally, after years of viewing Romney as a gay-hating religious nutbag who hates poor people and minorities because he’s rich and white, the left finally has something in common with the guy. This one thing they have in common is apparently enough to finally view him as a good guy despite the fact that he is in defiance of every principle they have; their mutual hatred of Trump is enough.
As my colleague Bonchie reported, Romney walked in a Black Lives Matter protest and the left couldn’t get enough of it. Even Valerie Jarrett couldn’t help but praise Romney, hoping he sets a bar for all Republicans to reach.
Welcome to the right side of history, @SenatorRomney. I hope your leadership inspires your Republican colleagues to do the same. https://t.co/TCPjzZtODt
— Valerie Jarrett (@ValerieJarrett) June 7, 2020
This sparked some confusion by members of the right, best summed up in this tweet.
how could you defend someone like Romney who your team said tortured a dog!
You said he hated black people!
You said he wanted to kill my grandparents!
How could you defend him now?
You monster.
— PoliMath (@politicalmath) June 8, 2020
It highlights an interesting point. How could they suddenly think Romney is amazing after all the hatred they professed for having toward him? Do they actually like him now?
No, and to understand that, you first have to realize that the left doesn’t look at things in terms of “like” or “dislike” — they look at things in terms of “useful” or “useless.” Romney has made himself useful.
For the left, Romney is still a leader in some regard. They see him as the quintessential stereotypical Republican. Rich, white, religious, and will easily cave to anything with the proper application of pressure. They believe that there are still some Republicans who believe Romney has a solid chunk of the right that would elect him if given the chance. If Romney is encouraged to stand against Trump and the new Republican establishment, then they may be able to weaken Trump going into 2020 as Republicans will follow Romney’s lead.
Romney is useful and, as such, he’s become something of a sweetheart to many on the left, especially the strategist sect of the left like Jarrett.
The left doesn’t love Romney, they love him right now and it’s not even “love” by the correct definition. They love Romney like a slaughterhouse loves a cow. They’re happy it’s there because it profits them for it to be there, but rest assured, it’s food.
At this point in history, the Democrat party is not a pro-American party. At the time of this writing, many Democrats, even those sitting in elected positions, are advocating for police to be defunded in the face of nationwide riots. They have defended and even praised China during the COVID-19 outbreaks from Trump, going so far as to call him racist when he correctly points out that the virus is a Chinese virus.
Being a “friend” of the left isn’t exactly a title you want to have. If the left is considering you a friend, you’ve gone wrong somewhere. However, more importantly, that friendship is temporary. The left isn’t known for its principles, it’s known for its opportunism. It never lets a crisis go to waste, but more unspoken is the fact that they never let a patsy go to waste either. A useful tool is all Romney is right now. A trendy toy that the left will grow bored of and discard the moment his usefulness comes to a close. They’ll be right back to hating “tickle-me-Romney” when they either learn that his actions are actually boosting Trump’s popularity, or that Romeny’s opinion can no longer affect Trump at all.
Be wary of the left’s fondness for you. The monster is just saving you for later.
