Now that the fanfare of the new year has passed and it’s just regular old January, you might have thought that Donald Trump would be just a little more settled in with the idea of the new Congress — especially the new Democratic majority in the House. And actually, it almost seems like he’s beginning to understand what that’s going to mean. But today also ends in the letter “Y,” which means that Trump is bound by his own crazy behavior to freak out on somebody on Twitter. If not the Democrats, then who?
Turns out it’s a Republican who just won a seat in the Senate: Mitt Romney.
We know there’s a little bad blood between Romney and Trump, not least because of the way the President has publicly insulted and ridiculed the former Massachusetts governor. But for the most part, Romney hasn’t taken the bait, and even angled for a position in Trump’s administration at one point.
But the time for niceties has apparently passed, and Romney penned an editorial in the Washington Post that triggered Trump in a way that only another Republican can set him off. And the thing is, the piece doesn’t even say he’s been a bad president. Romney is a Republican, after all, so he thinks massive tax cuts for people who don’t need them and the appointment of right-wing hacks to judicial seats is good and appropriate.
But he basically pointed out that Trump sucks as a person, and that’s what had the President up in arms.
Here we go with Mitt Romney, but so fast! Question will be, is he a Flake? I hope not. Would much prefer that Mitt focus on Border Security and so many other things where he can be helpful. I won big, and he didn’t. He should be happy for all Republicans. Be a TEAM player & WIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2019
They’re both wrong, of course. Romney is wrong that the problem with the Trump presidency is his demeanor — the policies are terrible and bad for America. Trump is wrong that, of the two of them, he’s the “big winner” — Romney actually won the popular vote in his election by more than 30 points, while Trump was forced to rely on the archaic and undemocratic electoral college to eke out a win in 2016.
The interesting thing about the new dynamic is that Romney may actually hold the upper hand in the relationship now that he’s in the Senate. He will be a crucial vote, should any other Republicans in the Senate suddenly find their consciences.
It could be that Trump might have to — GASP! — be nice to Mitt Romney after the new Congress is seated.
From the looks of that tweet, however, the chances of that are slim.
Featured image via screen capture
