Just one day after he and his vice presidential running mate Kamala Harris shamelessly gaslit the hell out of the American people in comparing the Capitol Hill riots to the months of Antifa/BLM-led violence and chaos at “peaceful protests” across the country last year, Joe Biden stepped to the microphone to effusively shower Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) with praise.

As the Salt Lake Tribune reported, Biden proclaimed that Romney was “a man of enormous integrity” for opposing President Trump at every turn as well as for his media-amplified opposition to other Republican Senators including Ted Cruz (TX) and Josh Hawley (MO) for raising objections to some of the Electoral College votes this week:

Biden at a news conference hailed those Republicans who have stood up to Trump, including Romney by name, and hoped aloud that more will follow their example.

“I spoke to Mitt this morning again. This is a man of enormous integrity, enormous integrity, who lives his faith,” Biden said. “And I ran against him” with Barack Obama in 2012, when Romney was the GOP presidential nominee.

Biden praised how Romney and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., stood up to Trump and his supporters who tried to overturn the election by challenging electoral vote results.

Before we get to reading between the lines regarding what Biden really meant in his gushing over Romney yesterday, let’s flashback to what President Obama’s former veep had to say about his newfound Republican friend at the time they were running against each other in 2012:

"This is a man of enormous integrity." Joe Biden on Mitt Romney

"He's going to put ya'll back in chains." Joe Biden on Mitt Romney

— David Rutz (@DavidRutz) January 8, 2021

“This is a man of enormous integrity whom I said would strip African Americans of all their human rights and re-enslave them”

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) January 8, 2021

Biden told a primarily black audience in 2012 that Romney would put them “back in chains.” I wonder if he’ll ever apologize for that disgusting smear, given his current view of the man. https://t.co/K0uuqwl4zn

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) January 8, 2021

Fast forward to now, and Biden is employing the typical Democrat/media tactic of feigning reverence towards any Republican who publicly stands against other Republicans for, well, being Republicans. But is this just about Romney opposing Trump’s claims about election fraud, or is there something more behind Biden’s remarks?

I say there’s something more here, and the reason why is hinted at in this tweet from CBS News Capitol Hill reporter Rebecca Kaplan, who said Friday that Biden had no comment when asked about House Democratic leaders like Speaker Nancy Pelosi who have said they will move to try and impeach Trump again starting as early as Monday:

.@JoeBiden ducks a question about whether he supports House Democrats' growing support for introducing articles of impeachment: "I'm focused on the urgency of one, the virus, getting it under control…what the Congress decides to do is for them to decide."

— Rebecca Kaplan (@RebeccaRKaplan) January 8, 2021

This reminds me of how, prior to the election, Biden continuously refused to answer the question of whether he would pack the courts – at one point stating voters didn’t deserve to know the answer until after the election. It was clear in him not answering the question that he supported the idea. He just didn’t want to alienate middle of the road voters who he wanted to vote for him on Nov. 3rd.

In not commenting in this instance, he’s trying to act above the fray by heaping criticism on President Trump, all but declaring he’s the worst president in American history while stopping short of saying where he stands on the latest round of impeachmentpalooza. Because unity and healing and stuff.

But one way he can influence the debate – and he knows this – is by putting the pressure on Romney to support Democratic efforts to impeach/remove/punish Trump again, even as McConnell noted yesterday that the Senate trial likely couldn’t start until Jan. 19th, the day before Biden’s inauguration.

While there is some debate as to whether the House and Senate could do this to an out-going president, the legal consensus seems to be that they can commence with proceedings, with the biggest penalty for Trump (if they were successful) being that he would be barred from running for president again.

Though no doubt Romney was pleased with Biden’s praise, and the media predictably swooned, what’s really what’s happening here is clear: This isn’t about Biden respecting Romney. It’s about Biden using Romney in hopes he’ll support Democrats against Trump as he did during the last impeachment merry-go-round.

Biden knows Romney’s penchant for craving acceptance from the very same people who have accused him of vile things in the past, and he’s using it against him here in an effort to put one final nail in Trump’s political coffin. Sadly, Romney is so desperate to be “respected” by Beltway Democrats that he’ll probably go along with it.

Some people just never learn.