In an exclusive interview after announcing he will not seek re-election, the senator predicts the GOP's 'Trump fever will ultimately break'

Mitt Romney has said he will stand down from the Senate at the next election, as he called for politicians in their eighties to “move on” and argued the Republican Party has been captured by a “super MAGA” faction.

The Utah senator, 76, said he would not seek a second term in Congress after a career spanning three decades and two presidential bids.

Speaking to The Telegraph on Tuesday, Mr Romney criticised politicians still in office in their 80s, including Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, hit out at the “baby boomer generation” and called for the GOP to return to the moderate centre-Right.

The senator bemoaned the success of Donald Trump, who has been leading primary polls since he announced his candidacy in March, and pledged to focus on climate change and US debt in his remaining months in office.

  • Zorque@kbin.social
    9·
    1 year ago

    he was, in actual fact, the reason for my only democrat POTUS vote so far…

    If that was your only metric for voting not-Republican (because dont kid yourself, third party votes for presidenct is just voting for no one) then you’ve got far more issues than moderate republican running.

    • DagonPie@kbin.social
      32·
      1 year ago

      Stop hating on 3rd party votes. Just because they dont matter to you doesnt mean they dont matter to other people. Thats an asshat take.

      • Zorque@kbin.social
        3·
        1 year ago

        I dont hate them, I want them to succeed… but they’re not going to do it at the national stage. Not yet. Theyre important in state and local races, but for national races the two big.parties have a strangle hold on both the election rules and the attention of the public. To believe otherwise is naive.

        If you want to vote your principals over practicality, thats your choice… just know you’re basically voting nothing.

        • PsychedSy
          31·
          1 year ago

          How do you think we get ballot access? Federal elections. So the votes are in fact important to third parties. Ballot access is a huge deal.

          • Zorque@kbin.social
            1·
            1 year ago

            I’d say female bodily autonomy is more important. I’d say workers rights (to the limited degree that Democrats fight for them) is more important. I’d say equal rights for the disenfranchised, not just in name… but in actuality, are more important.

            Its nice to have ballot access for federal elections, but when all it does is put your name on a piece of paper in a section the vast majority of people are never even going to look at… there are many more important things that need seeing to, first.

            • PsychedSy
              21·
              1 year ago

              And we were out there distributing stickers and running protests and Kansas still has abortion.

              I don’t think you really understand how important ballot access is. It’s not just a name on a piece of paper. It allows the party to run candidates without having to jump through hoops and directly leads to third party seats in local elections.