Senator Mitt Romney is deeply disappointed in his fellow Republican members of Congress for falling prey to the cult of personality that is former President Donald Trump. This is the insight provided by Romney biographer — and highly regarded reporter — McKay Coppins, who appeared Monday on Morning Joe to promote his new biography, titled Romney, A Reckoning, which goes on sale Tuesday.
Coppins is a contributor at The Atlantic and has a penchant for filing reports that make big splashes. This tome appears to be no different, at least as evidenced by the absolute delight taken by Mika Brzezinksi in the list of insults pulled from Romney’s journal provided to Coppins. Many of those zingers were published in the book, then cited in on-air graphic form for the schadenfreude-tastic enjoyment of Morning Joe viewers.
BRZEZINSKI: McKay, You write in the book about how Romney says Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has, quote, no warmth at all. And he called Newt Gingrich a, quote, smug, know it all, smarmy and too pleased with himself. Romney also called Senator Ted Cruz, quote, frightening, scary and a demagogue. And former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, a, quote, huckster, a caricature of a for profit teacher, preacher. Romney also described former Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal as, quote, a twit and former Senator Rick Santorum as sanctimonious, severe and strange. On former governor Texas Governor Rick Perry, Romney said, quote, Republicans must realize that we have to have someone who can complete a sentence.
And this is what Romney had to say about former Ohio Governor John Kasich. Quote, lack of thoughtfulness, lack of attentiveness, ego. No wonder he and Chris Christie spark.Why do you think he’s speaking so candidly about so many issues? I mean, some of those are pretty searing. I would argue that a lot of them now kind of spot on. But go ahead.Coppins: Well, you know, some of those quotes are from his journals, which he gave me early on in the process of writing the book. I later found out without having read them himself, he hadn’t reread them. And so he kind of handed over hundreds of pages of his private journals, including some pretty candid comments about members of his party. But a lot of those comments are from interviews he gave me over the two years that we spent together. And I mean, look, you know, as those quotes have kind of gotten out over the past week, some people have said, well, Romney looks petty or he’s consumed with these old resentments, and I’ll let people make that judgment for themselves. I think that what’s really at play here is that Romney is enormously disappointed in the leaders of his party. He feels like, you know, this party that once stood for all these things that he believed in democracy, the Constitution, values, you know, family values, character has been fully corruptedby Donald Trump and that all these people he once respected have rallied around him. And so while, you know, it’s fair to question whether it was wise for him to make these comments, I think that at the root of them is a profound frustration with what his party has become. And seeing old friends and allies kind of rally around Donald Trump in a way that he finds pretty dispiriting.
Watch above via MSNBC.