Trump and Romney: Two Peas in a Pod!
It’s a provocative title designed to upset literally everybody.
A reader wrote with some comparisons of Mitt Romney and Donald Trump. Several of them are rather generic, but a couple stand out.
Mainly, they have both claimed to be qualified to be President because of their business record — despite some failures that each claims are unimportant. Each has also evolved from being liberal on some positions to conservative. I don’t want to lard up the post with the details; I have placed them on a separate page here if you’re interested.
Less striking things noted by my correspondent are the fact that each has been called remote or arrogant; that they each say they will fight for the middle class; that they both highlight their relationships with their father; that they have had “raucous” debates with opponents, and so forth. I think these are common enough things that they’re not worth documenting in depth; at best, they are worth a passing mention.
I will note myself that Mitt also took a very tough line on illegals (they should self-deport!!!) during his campaign. I don’t know if anyone else offended Latinos as much as he did with that position. So there’s that too.
One final trivial but fun (and rather unusual) parallel: Mitt Romney, a devout Mormon, doesn’t drink or smoke. We all knew that. But did you know that Romney’s complete lifetime abstention from cigarettes and alcohol is shared by the Donald?
They’re very different people, obviously — but if Trump goes as far as the polls seem to indicate he might, he could be open to the same sorts of attacks Romney was. So, I’m just going to go ahead and declare Trump to be Mitt Romney Revisited.
Now I’ll walk away, whistling casually and innocently, without a single look backwards.