‘I Laugh at the Phrase America First,’ Mitt Romney Tells MSNBC
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) told MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle on Wednesday why he laughs at former President Donald Trump’s slogan “America First.”
Asked for his thoughts on the growing isolationist faction within the Republican Party, Romney said, “It’s disorienting. To someone like me, it’s unimaginable, that in the party of Ronald Reagan, and George Herbert Walker Bush, and George W. Bush, and John McCain, and others, that we would see a growing isolationism within our party.”
He suggested, “I think it flows in part from talk TV, talk radio, the Tucker Carlson of the world that say outrageous things and the base says, ‘Yeah, exactly.'” He added:
Many in our party have followed that populist streak, which is, “Hey, stop worrying about the rest of the world, just worry about what’s going on here.” What they’re forgetting is that we are connected to the rest of the world, that our economy is connected to the rest of the world. That if we had had that attitude then, you know, Germany would’ve ended up ruling the world. We’re involved in the world out of our own self-interest, and I laugh at the phrase “America First.” I know it typically means isolationism, but really, America is putting ourselves first when we’re involved in the world, when we stop bad people. Look, if Vladimir Putin goes, not just through Ukraine, but then decides to go into Poland, then we’re involved in a conflict with our sons and daughters going to war. Or we could walk away from NATO, in which case Putin is going to keep on going and going.
Romney concluded, “How about a world where China and Russia control the world and we have our own little island? That’s not a world where Americans are going to be safe or prosperous. We’re safe and prosperous when the world follows the orders that have existed over the last 75 years.”
In the same interview, Romney told Ruhle that he would have “immediately pardoned” Trump were he in President Joe Biden’s shoes.
“I think President Biden made an enormous error. He should have fought like crazy to keep this prosecution from going forward. It was a win-win for Donald Trump,” said Romney on Trump’s ongoing federal and state trials. “Had I been President Biden when the Justice Department brought an indictment, I would have immediately pardoned him.”
Romney also praised the economy under Biden, telling Ruhle there was “no question” that the economy was “strong” and “doing well.”
Watch above via MSNBC.
