"I Won And He Lost": Trump Slams Romney Over Scathing WaPo Editorial

After criticizing then-candidate Trump during a scripted TV appearance back in 2016, Mitt Romney largely kept quiet as he ran for - and won - his senate seat in Utah (with the help of the president's endorsement). But now, just two days before his swearing-in, Romney is seeking to burnish his reputation as the leader of the Republican "#Resistance" to the president

In a Washington Post op-ed published in Wednesday's paper, Romney revived many of his favorite criticisms of the president, citing his failure to "do the right thing" and "inspire and unite" the American people. Romney had hoped Trump would dispense with the taunting and name-calling embraced by Trump during the campaign once he had won the election, yet "he did not." And while some of Trump's early staffing picks proved encouraging, Romney accused the president of the cardinal sin of American politics: Being profoundly and aggressively unpresidential. Or as Romney puts it, the president's "Character falls short."

It is well known that Donald Trump was not my choice for the Republican presidential nomination. After he became the nominee, I hoped his campaign would refrain from resentment and name-calling. It did not. When he won the election, I hoped he would rise to the occasion. His early appointments of Rex Tillerson, Jeff Sessions, Nikki Haley, Gary Cohn, H.R. McMaster, Kelly and Mattis were encouraging. But, on balance, his conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions this month, is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office.

Yet, interestingly enough, it's not Trump's policies to which Romney objects - on the contrary, Romney's list of favorable Trump policies includes almost the entire Trump agenda.

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