Will Mitt Romney really join Trump’s Cabinet? Well, they’re going to meet.
Mitt
Romney leaves his campaign plane and passes Donald Trump’s, after
landing at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, May 29, 2012.
(Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Mitt
Romney already knew he couldn’t trust Donald Trump, but to him and his
staff, the events of late spring 2012 seemed like the final blow, when
Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, found himself
caught up in a wave of controversy over Trump’s renewed birtherism.
Trump’s
questioning of Barack Obama’s birthplace was an annoyance to Romney,
who had repeatedly reaffirmed his view that Obama was a citizen. But
though he considered the conspiracy talk gutter politics, the former
Massachusetts governor trod carefully around Trump, worried that a
public challenge to the unpredictable real estate tycoon turned reality
television star would damage his White House prospects.
Just
months earlier, Romney had finally reached an understanding with Trump,
who had publicly mused about mounting his own bid for the presidency.
Along the way, Trump had raised what many perceived as the ex-governor’s
chief liabilities, describing Romney as a stiff who wasn’t telling the
truth about his record of creating jobs while he was head of Bain
Capital. And in true Trumpian fashion, he attacked Romney for not being
as rich as he was.
But
after months of overtures, Trump had finally thrown his support to
Romney that February, endorsing the ex-governor in a bizarre,
freewheeling news conference at his Las Vegas hotel, where Trump did
most of the talking as Romney and the candidate’s wife, Ann, stood
awkwardly at his side. The event, in which Trump strolled by reporters
repeatedly to talk up his “tremendous” hotel, would foreshadow the
mogul’s unusual campaign for the presidency four years later. But at the
time, it was criticized as a circus by some of Romney’s closest allies,
who told the ex-governor it was beneath him to align himself with the
publicity-hungry mogul.
Returning
to Las Vegas that May for a fundraiser with Trump, Romney was
determined not to make that mistake again, pointedly refusing to appear
publicly with the businessman, who had revived his birther talk just
days before the event. But Trump still got the publicity he wanted. As
Romney stepped off his campaign plane on the tarmac in Vegas, he noticed
that Trump’s corporate jet was parked nearby, jutting out in an unusual
way from its usual spot next to a private hangar. What Romney and his
staff didn’t realize until a few minutes later was that the mogul’s
plane had been positioned so that the word “TRUMP” appeared prominently
in the candidate’s arrival shot.
Romney
and his team never figured out whether the move had been deliberate,
but the incident forever cemented their view that Trump’s hunger for
attention made it necessary to treat his motives with suspicion. And
four years later, that feeling hasn’t changed — although the
circumstances have.
Trump
greets Romney after endorsing his candidacy for president at the
Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, Feb. 2, 2012. (Photo: Steve
Marcus/Reuters)
Trump,
now the president-elect, is looking to sit down with Romney as early as
this weekend to discuss a possible role in his administration. Though
the meeting hasn’t been confirmed — Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne
Conway told reporters Thursday they are “working on it” — Team Trump has
described the move as a conciliatory gesture toward an establishment
Republican who was one of Trump’s most vocal critics during the 2016
campaign and one that proves the president-elect is more pragmatic than
his critics believe.
While
Romney hasn’t commented on the invitation, people close to him say he
still regards Trump with deep suspicion, even after congratulating him
on his election and wishing him success. Amid reports from NBC and CNN
that Romney is on the long list of names Trump is considering for
secretary of state — something Team Trump would not confirm to Yahoo
News — allies of the former Massachusetts governor said they would be
surprised if Trump really made the offer and even more surprised if
Romney took it, or any job in the administration at all.
“Mitt
is a statesman who loves his country,” said a longtime Romney adviser
who asked not to be named as discussing the ex-governor. “[But] he knows
Trump. He knows how Trump is. Who knows if this [outreach] is genuine
or just another publicity stunt?”
Trump’s
overtures to Romney would mark a surprising turn in what has been
become a bitter relationship. Back in 2015, in the early days of Trump’s
candidacy, Romney was one of the few Republicans willing to take him
on, publicly lambasting him for his suggestion that Sen. John McCain, a
former rival who had become Romney’s close friend, was not a war hero.
While
Romney returned to the sidelines later in the campaign, as Trump soared
to the top of the polls, the former Massachusetts governor emerged
again to challenge Trump. Speaking in Salt Lake City in March, just
before Super Tuesday, Romney blasted Trump in unsparing terms, calling
him a “con man” and a “fake” who had played on anger among voters and
was leading the country into “an abyss.”
“Donald
Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree
from Trump University,” Romney declared. “He’s playing the members of
the American public for suckers. He gets a free ride to the White House,
and all we get is a lousy hat.”
Romney speaks at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on March 3, 2016. (Rick Bowmer/AP)
In
response, Trump trashed Romney as a “loser” and a “failure” who had
“begged” for his endorsement four years ago. “I don’t know what happened
to him,” Trump said during a rally in Portland, Maine. “You can see how
loyal he is. He was begging for my endorsement. I could have said,
‘Mitt, drop to your knees.’ He would have dropped to his knees.”
After
Romney said he would never vote for him as the GOP nominee — he said he
planned to write in his wife, Ann, on the ballot — Trump raged against
Romney as a failed candidate who should have won the race against Obama
four years ago.
But
the tide began to change last week, when Romney sent a public Twitter
message congratulating Trump on his victory. The former governor also
called Trump, offering his congratulations as well as any assistance he
might need in the future. Trump, on Twitter, described the call as “very
nice!”
The
overture led to Trump’s overtures to Romney this week — an
uncharacteristic shift for a man who has been known to reward loyalty
above all and to be slow to forgive slights. But Trump has been breaking
with that reputation in recent days, meeting with a string of former
rivals and enemies as he puts together an administration. Among them:
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who refused to endorse him for months, and South
Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, an Indian-American who has criticized Trump
for his rhetoric toward immigrants.
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