Trump said the impeachment process put him through hell. Wonder if he gets any sympathy from the Central Park Five.
27
Ah, I actually thought you weren’t going to mention the dog on the roof. Last sentence! Well played.
25
I see his acquittal as a good thing. I believe he is now so emboldened that he’ll cross a line that nobody, not even Mitch’s army of fools, can ignore. I just hope we’ll be alive to see him get his just reward.
15
President Trump learned that today the 90% of the Republicans are with him. This really was the lesson.
12
seeing mitt voting his conscience -- actually taking his oath to defend the constitution seriously -- did cause a tear to trickle down my cheek. but nothing, and i mean NOTHING, absolves driving to canada with the family dog strapped to the car roof! there can be no forgiveness!
4
susan collins must think the voters are stupid, with her beyond lame rationalization of not voting to convict trump
25
Oh, that dog! I would like to say I had almost forgotten, but, in fact, it is the first thing I think of when anyone says "Mitt Romney", which, in my circles, they hardly ever do.
3
Gail, keep in mind that Willard has five years to go before he faces vengeful Mormons as a candidate for re election. No profile in courage from Rmoney.
4
More importantly have the democrats learned a lesson? Congress has a lower much lower approval rating than Trump. The Congress has been made irrelevant with executive orders and the courts. Keep up. Americans (and the rest of the world) want nationalism and America First. That's what America wants. Thats how Trump won. The climate, social justice isn't in the top 10 of what America wants. Bernie will give us the America First with wealth redistribution and socialism. Trump will continue to push America First with wealth creation (the rich get richer) and immoral capitalism. The Presidency is for sale as is was when Obama spent 800 million for it to be elected outspending Romney 2X. Whoever raises the most money will win. Kushner is raising over $2B for the reelection for Trump (4X+ what he had in 2016). It's not about character, integrity, the Constitution, etc. It's about money. Trump will outspend Bernie since Bernie runs whether he is the nominee or not. The DNC showed in 2016 even with twice the money as Trump they couldn't win one state they targeted (0/6), and Trump won 12 out of 13 that Kushner targeted. Your party is going to lose because they are flat incompetent to run a Presidential campaign. Kushner even copied Act Blue for getting more donations for Trump. It's over because Trump only needs 13 states to win and he will be driving voters to the polls and door dashing ballots to the precinct with all the money Kushner has raised.
2
Oh, Gail, just this once couldn’t you have left out the bit about the dog on the roof of the car?
3
We have manage to divide, polarize and antagonize the Jews and the Arabs in the Holy Land, the Korean people, the Vietnamese people, the natives of Indochina, the Cubans, the Afghans, the Iraqis, the Syrians, the Lybians, the Egyptians, the Iranians and finally the fellow Americans.
Are we going to blame Trump for all of it?
3
"We live in times when agreeing to listen to people who know a lot about the matter you’re debating is an act of extreme daring." Sadly true and also damning of Ms. Collins and many of her colleagues, who had even less courage than the small amount she managed to muster in what for her was a meaningless and perhaps cynical gesture aimed at her moderate supporters.
The entire "trial" was a travesty. A trial without witnesses in fact is not a trial, but simply a bunch of speeches. Trump and McConnell may crow now, but history will not treat them kindly.
8
Dear Gail,
Think Democrats and the media learned a lesson? Hahahaha
3
I was so pleased to see that Gail Collins managed to work in Seamus the immortal car-roof passenger in the last line of this excellent piece about Romney's redemption.
3
I don't care what motivated Romney to speak up and vote his conscience.
On such a shameful day for us Americans because of our spineless GOP senators, I'm just grateful he did.
We are all hurting and this courageous move by Senator Romney has put a salve on my raw wound.
Thank you Senator Romney.
14
The dog on the roof of the car has had quite a ride.
A bow to the Constitution.
Exit stage center.
And "Long live 'corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one’s oath of office that I can imagine.' "
3
I assume that driving to Canada with the dog on the roof of the car will never be mentioned again by one Gail Collins. That is at it should be. Still, I am already nostalgic.
1
Brilliantly written, Ms.Collins! One zinger after another. I thought you were going to forget your commitment never to mention the name of Romney without also mentioning that poor dog on the roof of his car. And then, voila: your last line, perfectly delivered!
Thank goodness for people like you, Ms. Coillins!
6
Gail,
I am reading your column later than my usual time and because of this late read I have the benefit of watching the President's special public celebration of his acquittal of the impeachment articles passed by the House with no Republican votes where Senator Romney was the only Republican Senator to vote "guilty" on the article charging the President with attempting to tamper with our elections.
I think Senator Romney's Floor statement reached the highest standard of political courage. I don't know him personally but I did know his father when he was head of American Motors and I sensed a genetic expression reminiscent of his father and the Senator did his father, the idea of our democratic experiment in government and humanity proud.
Senator Romney has potential and if he continues to express pragmatic views on issues that affect the well being of all humanity rather than the totally self-serving ideology of the G.O.P., like energy, global warming. clean air, clean water, our food supply, and the basics in quality of life and health that we are capable of, he can do a lot of good in the Senate.
After watching the disparaging and vulgar remarks of the President at his celebration of his acquittal, today, I would advise Senator Romney to return to Utah and inform the people of Utah that he wants to petition their support to change his affiliation to Independent and with their approval join the Senate Democratic Party Caucus.
Don't just resign,
4
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library has an annual Profile in Courage award that, as I recall, is always given on a non-partisan basis. To me, this year it should first go to Mitt Romney.
I am aware of his flip-flopping past politics and his sins as a businessman, but he has redeemed himself for now, substantially if not wholly, by his single great act of virtue in the service of truth, democracy, moral rectitude, honor, and dignity. I can't read his mind--no one can-- so I am taking his entire reasoning at face value without reservations. He finally stood up when it counted most in his entire career.
Others who deserve the same award are Adam Schiff, Kakeem Jeffries, all other House Managers, and those diplomats and military and intelligence officials who dared to speak the truth in the House about the mendacious DJT and all his spineless and self-serving cronies.
Perhaps it would be equally fitting to institute and announce an award in cowardice and moral ignominy and bestow it on Mitch McConnell and his entire Republican ilk in the Senate and the House.
7
Trump was wrong and should have been impeached.
But- you Democrats are crazy for pretending like Joe Biden and his son did nothing wrong. It is mind boggling how you can give him a pass for doing things that Trump does.
There is nothing wrong with asking a foreign government to investigate corruption that our elected officials may be being a part of. There is nothing wrong with denying tax-payer dollars to corrupt foreign nations that bribe our officials and their family members.
Again- Trump bad. Trump very bad. But not because he targeted the Biden's for obvious corruption.
No, President Trump has not learned a lesson. In fact, his misinformation campaign never stopped. Indeed, he is counting on it to get over the hump. How so? Because even if everybody from his base votes for his reelection, this still would not be enough. The math is simply not there. More is needed and there is no Hillary Clinton to kick around anymore. Nobody understands this better than President Trump -- which is why he went to such lengths in Ukraine to taint Joe Biden. And with Biden falling behind, he will now need to invent something else to taint the others.
3
According to all of the bar/restaurant patrons (six of them) that I talked to this afternoon, Romney is a creep and Trump will win by a landslide in November. They were all Trump-supporters and hated Pelosi, Schiff and Nadler. There were three TV's around the bar area -- the only one with the sound on was Fox News. I agreed with them so we had a good time!
3
@Carol. Relieved you had a good time. Those of us in the reality based community who abhor children in cages, hate racism, and honor the Constitution...eh not so much.
11
Now that we have seen the press conference, I ask those Republican senators who claimed Trump would be schooled and learn a lesson - do you still think that? I know, I know the argument...Trump is defying the norms of the presidency - but this is just abnormal.
4
It seems quite likely at this point that Trump believes hespeaks the truth. Somebody, s professional, should find out-1
1
I'm a lifelong Democrat and Trump despiser (well, it feels like a lifetime for the latter, anyway). And I've thought up to now that Romney is only good for dog-on-the-car-top entertainment in Gail's columns. I mean, he did brag about how he's voted with Trump 80% of the time. But yesterday, I could only think about how refreshing it was to have a Republican vote to convict Trump. I don't think Romney will regret that, ever. The other Republicans will certainly regret their spinelessness. We know and they know that Trump is guilty and should be packing his bags right now. Romney gave us a tiny lifeline to the way things should be. I applaud him, Irish setters aside.
5
So, we have a group of Senators who are almost like the three monkeys. They see no evil and they hear no evil. Too bad we can’t have the trifecta... Oh, they figure Trump does all the speaking for them.
Meanwhile, as part of her cyber bullying campaign, Melania really needs to get her husband to Tweet no evil.
1
Gail! Enough with the dog on the car! Seamus on you! This gag is beyond old; it is becoming downright offensive and boring.
A dog in a crate securely strapped to the roof of a vehicle is actually much safer in case of a crash that being loose in the vehicle or running around the back of a pickup truck.
I can't believe you couldn't resist the temptation to make that the last line of an otherwise good column.
Bad Gail! No biscuit!
3
Trump unbound. Interesting times.
1
Romney is rich and in his 70s so he can tell the RNC to jump in a lake since he can fund his own reelection in 5 yrs. if he runs. But Gail Collins had to ruin her piece by mentioning Romney's dog on his car roof for the 1000th time - get over it Gail !
4
Trumps a lying snake who has gotten away with everything his entire life and he certainly won't change now. Collins is as spineless and either gullible or spineless as the rest of the GOP. Romney could care less what the national GOP thinks of him. Utah loves the guy and that's all that matters to him. They're going to pay in November. I predict the largest voter turn out in American history with the GOP taking it right in the head.
3
You have brought back the dog on the roof from the dead. There may also be hope for America.
3
Republican senators are furious at Mitt because he made them look bad, the weaklings. Hopefully, trump will seethe and stew so much about Romney he will have a stroke.
8
Trump's nooner today was pure Kim Jong Un. The Supreme Leader of the Retrumplican Party has made it clear: there is only One True President, and He is The Donald.
4
IT is now beyond dispute. Senator Collins is an amoeba - she has no spine. Perhaps that acceptable for Maine Lobsters, but not for people.
3
Maybe the next time Mitt drives to Canada, he will let his dog sit in the back seat and put Trump on his roof.
10
A quick read of The Times' story on the vitriol spewed at Trump's mini-Nuremberg rally today at the White House answers this question pretty resoundingly.
3
We may not find out what diabolical plot Trump unleashes to win re-election and if it comes out the senate will stand by their man even with bodies laid out over 5th ave as Trump tries to make his point using his street thugs.
2
Oh my heavens Gail, you've brought back the roof riding dog. I'll love you forever!!!
On a serious note, you have each of these individuals nailed. Collins is my Senator and she continues to mealy mouth her convictions every time. I'll be working hard to see her defeated this November.
One favor, can you come up with a story on Collins similar to Romney's dog? I love to see humor along with the nonsense. Love your columns.
2
Trump indeed learned something. He can do absolutely anything and the gutless Rs in DC will not even raise an eyebrow.
5
Susan Collins is a fool. This is not the first time she has put on the blinders and come up with an asinine reason that justifies her vote. Clearly, she does not belong in the Senate. I have never supported political candidates outside my home state but I will support Collins' opponent.
8
I do think, Gail, that you could retire on the dog on the car line, and no one would miss it.
1
What a concession you ended with, Gail Collins! :)
1
ms collins,
you almost got to the end of an article on mr romney without bringing up shamus.
whewww. i thought we were going to miss that one.
cheers.
After today's grand entrance at the White House OJ style acquittal party attended by the Attorney General, I fear for our country.
3
Help us press for DT taxes!
fatal expose!
Mitt will never regret his vote. Plenty of Republican senators will.
8
For about 3-4 years, Wisconsin senator Joe McCarthy became and then remained in some senses the most powerful man in Washington. Until, one day in June of 1954, he suddenly wasn't, anymore. The same fate awaits Trump. It will really be something to see people disavow their recorded words in support of him dating back to when he had power, after he has none.
Nobody predicted the moment when Joe McCarthy would be demolished. Similarly, nobody knows now the moment when Trump will meet his Waterloo, but he will; they always do.
12
He indeed learned a lesson and that lesson is this: Do whatever you want, there will be no consequences.
1
Woof.
2
With his yes vote yesterday, It was nice to see the Mitt Romney that earned my vote for MA governor. Not the indecisive and pandering candidate for president.
Legacy-defining moment. If not 1st line of his obituary, will certainly be the 2nd.
4
Gail is a great writer. I look forward to her columns eagerly and am always entertained and educated. It took great skill to work in the dog story and she did so without getting too obvious about it. There is enough about Romney to lampoon that he should not be granted canine absolution for one principled act. The dog story must endure.
My greatest fear is that one day I will read Gail Collins is retiring.
2
Oh Gail, great finish! And I didn't see it coming (should have, though) so I'm still laughing. At least something to laugh about ...
1
To punish Romney, the trump administration just proposed opening two National Monuments to oil drilling, mining and cattle grazing. I visited southern Utah last fall. Zion, Bryce Canyon and in between. I have worked in Arches, visited Canyonlands and the north rim of the Grand Canyon, and I believe that southern Utah is perhaps the most spectacular place on our incredible but threatened planet. Zion, I believe, is now the most popular of all our Parks. And I noticed on my visit that businesses LOVE tourists. I think trump is on his way to losing Utah.
6
Thanks Mitch. Good on you for doing the right thing.
I'm watching Ken Burns' Viet Nam series and noted that in episode #7 which covered Kent State shootings-- parents of the young ROTC victim of the Ohio Natl Guard (apparently just moving class to class that day) got "hundreds of hate mail letters" saying it was great that their Commie son was dead. 1970 folks.
The "lesson" for Trump is ancient and always beneficial news to him. Hahahah indeed :(
1
Impeachment Commentary
A fine how-de-do, impeachment’s a mess
Best left behind the Dems should confess,
What was exposed but the Dems out to fire
Trump at long last; no deal, and no buyer;
Pelosi et al, - their show lingered long
But by Act 3 they knew it went wrong;
Off went the TVs with yawns far too many,
Too much exposure for Schiff, a bad penny
Who carped and carped more, forever after
Until he lost steam with no votes thereafter;
Recriminations that Trump was acquitted,
But from the get-go the scheme was half-witted.
The United States hasn’t been so horribly divided since 1968. That was a very bad year. I hope this year doesn’t follow that path.
It’s so ironic that these days the communist sympathizers are in the White House and the Senate. Imagine all the trillions of dollars and the lives spent on defending the American way of life. Dribbled away by a guy with bone spurs.
3
The question is did some 60 million Americans who voted for him learn anything ?
13
Note to Senator Collins: Learning from the past requires a willingness to do some soul searching. Senator Romney has demonstrated this willingness but President Trump has not and, unfortunately, neither have you.
8
While Trump probably learned that he can, indeed, get away with anything he wants, I've learned that our beloved republic, based on the rule of law and not men, is now and most likely with his acquittal, for all time dead. This decision by the senate has rendered our Constitution powerless and set a powerful precedent allowing all future presidents
to likewise abuse it, a precedent that will most likely be impossible to overcome . Thank you, Mitt Romney, for your courage and integrity in trying, however unsuccessfully, to save our democratic republic.
1
All of the Republican senators except Romney are counting on Americans having very short memories.
But if Trump gets another term, I bet a lot more of us will be pondering the good old days. Like when our pensions and healthcare weren't under attack, and our troops weren't Saudi rent-a cops, and there was still hope for the environment, and we could feel pride in our country.
I miss Obama.
9
Although I cannot stomach the President, the Republicans may be right that removing a president immediately before an election should require proof of greater misdeeds. Only three natural born citizens over the age of 35 who have resided in the U.S. for the last fourteen years are Constitutionally ineligible for the presidency: George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barrack Obama, as each served two full terms. Almost certainly if all Americans voted today for the candidate of their choice, President Trump would receive at least a plurality of the votes. Under those circumstances the failure of the Republican Senate to render ineligible the country's single most popular candidate was not an act of cowardice. It was simply inevitable.
We Democrats should stop wringing our hands, come down from our high horses, and organize, mobilize, and educate the electorate. And we should commit ourselves to being the voice of and champion for the working class. That way we can and will defeat this deplorable man where it will hurt him most -- at the ballot box in November.
2
Maybe Susan Collins said "Trump has learnt his lesson" without laughing because she has a dry sense of humor.
Maybe not.
"When history looks back on Mitt Romney, this should be the moment that gets remembered. Not the uninspiring presidential race or political flip-flops. Not even the time he drove to Canada with a dog on the roof of the car."
Nicely done. If Mitt thinks he'll get any lasting credit with Dems he's clearly mistaken. He's a bitter man and everyone knows it. He's just getting a momentary pat on the head.
Oh, you forgot "binders of women."
And for everyone else, it's still Groundhog Day. Only way out is you follow Bill Murray's solution. Doesn't look like that's happening.
1
She has suckered me in too many times. She is a master of the con. No more! I dream of moving to Maine, where my Democratic vote would count more than it does in NYS. Alternatively, Toronto looks better every day. Oh, and PS, Gail, thank you and bravo.
6
I feel like I am trapped in the worst horror movie ever, where an alternate universe full of hateful, lying, scheming, bullies is quickly taking over our country. My mouth is agape every time I hear trump or any of his supporters so blatantly lie to the world and twist facts into knotted pretzels. There has to be an end to this, but I fail to see a way out. It's like those nightmares where you wake up just before the disaster, but I'm afraid this time, we are never going to wake up.
7
Don't let Doug Jones downplay his vote. No one stood taller in the Senate this week than he.
4
I applaud Senator Pelosi--I did not watch the State of the Union, but had I, I would have done the same thing and ripped up the all nonsense speech.. He is a conceited blowhard who sees not the evil he has created. I am sorry for him and all republicans who are blinded by ineffectiveness and evil. I applaud Senator Romney for doing what he felt was right. It was courageous as now he has to face the wrath of his President.
3
Trump is clearly his own worst enemy. The real national tragedy is hat the rest of us have to wait for him to self-destruct--and hope that he doesn't take us with him!
1
Dear Gail,
I admit I laughed with you every time you mentioned Mitt's dog. But after the events of this week I feel a tad guilty about that. Perhaps you'll reward him by not bringing it up again? Maybe that would inspire further acts of bravery. They'll be needed when, during Trump's second term, the Republicans attempt to repeal the ACA, Medicare and Social Security.
1
Of course Donald Trump has learned a lesson. He has learned he can get away with it.
We have to work hard to ensure that it's followed by the words "only once".
5
Trump being acquitted means that he was better in building partisanship than Pelosi in constructing the bipartisan spirit in the Congress.
Wouldn't in any normal country that be a reason big enough for resignation or being fired as the Speaker?
I kept waiting and waiting for the reference to the dog strapped to the roof of the car. Thanks Gail for not letting me down!
4
@Pablo As I read along, I was thinking, "Is she going to be able to work the dog story in?" Took until the last line, but there it was!
1
Romney was the only GOP Senator who could vote the way he did. He was elected despite not because of Trump. His state, Utah, give Trump only 45% of the vote in 2016 and Romney has a base of support that is independent of the Trump GOP base. Mitt, who will be 77 when his current term is up, is running for him place in history more than anything else.
1
Thanks for the moment of levity at the very end. I needed that!
3
Last week, I told a friend almost exactly the same thing about Collins, just not as humorously. I think I even referred to her as a calculating snake. How anyone in Maine, where I have lived for 16 years, can vote for this woman is beyond me.
9
Agree that Mitt Romney hit a very high note. The only GOP Senator for whom I have any respect. Certainly not the two spineless Senators from my state of Idaho.
But I have to admit - I read Gail's column to see if she'd get the dog on the roof into the story. Had to hang on until the last sentence, but it was worth it!
3
Hope the media hounds Susan Collins today to ask how that lesson is going for Trump. His diatribe this afternoon pretty much spells out what lesson he learned - that owning the GOP and threatening any deserters will get him re-elected.
7
Pelosi launched an attack and lost.
Is she familiar with concept of personal responsibility?
She cannot blame Trump as partisan if she fails to build up bipartisanship.
It is insane for her to stay as the Speaker. She failed in building the team unity.
Either you have it in you or not.
If she had the evidence to impeach, it's her leadership failure that left Trump in the Office.
If she didn't have the evidence then she shouldn't have started the impeachment at all.
2
One should never launch an attack unless assured it would be victorious.
Otherwise it would be a pure gambling.
Pelosi gambled and lost.
It is the perfect moment for her resignation.
Or being ousted by her pears.
Shouldn't the Democrats show us how it's done?!
1
@Kenan Porobic
Her "pears" know that she is one of the only ones who can really stand up to this president. And just because you and he call impeachment an "attack" doesn't make it one.
4
It would be interesting to see if voters will ask the Republicans up for re-election this fall what they think of Romney and his vote to convict.
Now is the time for Manchin's idea of censure. As I understand it, either the House or the Senate can censure the President with a majority vote. The House will clearly vote to censure because they have already voted to impeach him. The Senate could also vote to censure Trump because almost a majority of them have agreed that Trump's behavior was worthy of expulsion. Only a few Republicans need to agree that his behavior rose to the level worth of censure for the proposal to pass. Their explanations for not convicting Trump contain enough criticism to signal that a censure proposal could pass in the Senate. Remember that Trump can be censured by EITHER the House or the Senate. Both would be better, but either would suffice.
3
not really...the House is majority Democrat and already voted Impeachment on a party line vote. Censure by the House would be seen only as another political maneuver by poor loosers.
It would have to be a censure by the Senate to have any weight at all. And the Senate will not vote to censure at this point. they won and moved on already. Only if Trump commits another similarly egregious act (more than an "inappropriate"one, ala Lamar Alexander)0 would there be any chance for censure. The Republican Senators have ridden the waves with this despicable man for three years...I don't see them finding courage between now and November.
Vote all of them out!
2
Romney's vote today will be remembered alongside McCain's thumb-down moment as the only beacons of light in the gaping maw of darkness that is the Republican party of today.
Bob Corker and Jeff Flake were smart, they got out with their souls intact.
And to consider that people like Lindsey Graham and Susan Collins were considered principled moderates at some point!
5
Trump learned that what he did has no consequences so in his mind, what he did was permitted and any criticism of what he did is not justified. Trump has no internal sense of identify so that he can distinguish between his intentions, his beliefs, and the results. His sense of self is all relative to how the world reacts to him. This may seem contradictory to his defiance of rules but you have to look back into his history to see it.
Trump was raised by a father who considered all others adversaries, who used any means to gain an advantage, who seems to have broken laws that he knew were not being enforced. That taught him that to succeed one focused upon personal advantage and to not take rules of conduct seriously. In addition, Trump came to believe that never apologizing and that always insisting that all efforts were successful and to strike back to any offense or criticism represented strength. He absorbed these ideas from others, he never actually tried to live as a stand up and responsible person. His defiance of rules is because he fears following rules will make him vulnerable and internally he feels too vulnerable to risk opening up.
So in my estimation Trump is an insecure person with vast power and authority at his command. This is a temptation for abusing authority that should be limited by laws because that authority can be applied contrary to the intended limits. That is the basis for the impeachment provisions of the Constitution, because power corrupts.
3
Just when I thought I had forgotten the dog on the car tp, you’re here to remind me. Will be my enduring memory.
When will Americans get it through their heads that Republicans don't give a darn about this country, its people, and the planet?
It is not just Trump, who clearly only cares about himself and himself only. It is the Republican Party, which ironically used to proclaim it had a monopoly on patriotism, was the only party that supported family values, and advertised itself as the "Moral Majority."
But here is a clue about today's GOP: Mike Pence described himself: "I am a Christian, conservative, and Republican in that order." No mention of being an American, because, deep down inside his hard head, the well being of America is not a priority for Pence--or for all those other Republicans who said they sided with Mr. Trump, no matter what he does, and turned their collective backs and weak spines on supporting our Constitution.
Not you, Mitt! You stood tall at this defining moment in history for the Republican Party.
13
Trump understands the simple dynamics of the Republican party. They are fighting for their mere survival. Having demographics slide increasing away from them, their only hope to play defense with the fear factor of a society being brainwashed that its US vs THEM. Brown people are going to take over the country. The other is out to take your jobs, and your women. Its happening all over western societies. When faced with an existential threat, what eles is a party to do. Hunker down and keep the ringmaster in play. What a mess this country has turned into.
1
Shouldn't the NYT columnists care more about the readers and fellow Americans than a single President?
Why shouldn't we learn the lesson?
How many times have we voted for a smooth talking politicians and got disappointed?
How many times have we voted for a lying leaders that broke every single promise and said the worst things to get elected?
By the way, have you forgotten when the Clinton clan tried to stir up the racism in 2008 by insinuating that Obama Barack wasn't electable?
Thank you for the dog on the roof of the car. I miss this trope.
1
how can you make light of his eloquence, his faith & his courage?
@babka1 Romney's
I've nominated Mitt Romney for the Profile In Courage Award given each year by the JFK Library. Nominations end February 15th. He deserves it.
Please send money to each brave Senator, as well as to Amy McGrath of KY. She is a Naval Academy grad seeking to take out the monumentally unprincipled McConnell. We must take the Senate, folks!
3
I would really like to know how Susan Collin’s reconciles her assertion that Trump ‘learned from this case’ in light of the President’s claims of absolute vindication today.
5
The President has learned that being a Con all his life has worked quiet well for him and he will continue accordingly. I think he enjoys being vindictive as the best part of being a Con. And, he just loves how the lust for greed and power of other politicians keeps them in line and ensures his success.
2
What was worse?
Trump's call to Zelinski in 2019 or Hillary's proxies in 2008 claming that Obama Barack wasn't electable because of his race?
One was a crime! He just wasn’t convicted this time.
@Kenan Porobic
Let me help you decide. One was dirty domestic politics. The other was an attempt to sell out the country.
Which is worse?
3
@Kenan Porobic: Bribing for favors from a foreign government is worse. And impeachable.
3
With only one exception, the G.O.P. senators have shown "profiles in scourge," as in being part of the "cause of affliction (as a plague)" (Merriam-Webster) that has descended upon the Republic.
But what is truly discouraging is how easily they seem to be intimidated by Trump and the Trumpists, who remain in the minority. So far, none of the polls shows that Trump has increased his base by any comfortable margin for the next election. Some of the Senate races are getting close.
Get out the vote!
If I were a constituent of Susan Collins I'd ask her if I could borrow $100,000. "I'll pay you back real soon, I promise." Quick cash!
2
What courage are we talking about? If there is a genuine fear of violent Trump supporters, that might be a consideration. But other than that, the only fear is not being re-elected. Anyone who gives a damn about the country can't be swayed by that.
Besides, our Congresspersons already have their pensions and platinum healthcare. Who wants to serve under Trump anyway?
I'm sorry, Gail, but I don't believe Romney did anything courageous. He faced no physical danger. He is in no danger of losing his income and going hungry. He simply did his duty. That's good, but it doesn't distinguish him from any soldier who shows up for duty and performs it. In fact, it's not as impressive, because Romney stands to lose nothing by his vote, but the soldier faces physical danger and possible death. Because the other Republicans are profiles in jelly doesn't mean that Romney is brave. All of these tears and sobs--not even Hollywood is more self-centered and self-conscious than US Senators.
2
Here we go again.
Over the last five decades we thought if only we were able to rid of Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush Senior, Clinton, Bush Junior, Obama and Trmp we would have been much better plac to live.
If only the problems were do easy to solve...
It's easy to replace a single man. It's incredibly harder to improve the rest of country...
2
Mitt Romney's vote had nothing to do with courage. It was an attempt to serve revenge cold for the Secretary of State "interview " dinner humiliation Trump inflicted on him in '17. Frankly it fell way short. You can't pretend to be standing on principles after you had the guy campaign for you during your Senate Run.
2
As I read this column from Gail I was getting increasingly nervous that she was going to forget to slip in the "dog on the roof reference", which she pledged to do forever in any writings about Mitt. And there it was! The last line. Promises Made; Promises Kept. The Honest Collins Delivers!
We are in seemingly eternal conflicts with North Korea, Cuba, Russia, Venezuela, China over Taiwan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Lybia, Syria and Palestine while actively supporting the worst dictators in Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Does any other country in the world have so many permanent enemies?
How come we are unable to end them?
Can't we learn?
So, who is the problem, we or Trump?
2
Give Ms Collins credit. She was correct when she declared that Trump had learned his lesson. What did he learn? That insults, intimidation, lying and sliming your opponents (real or perceived), and hitting back 10X harder wins. I'm sure it is a valuable lesson that he will apply very vigorously in the next ten months.
I'm sure we will see an investigation into Bain Capital, South Bend "corruption," Bloomberg "corurption," Bernie's ties to the Socialist Party, a continuation into Biden "corruption," Klobuchar's treatment of subordinates, and maybe even the start of a whisper campaign about something related to Deval Patrick. Cory Booker may have run away, but he can't hide either.
5
Gail, I am so gratified by Mitt’s principled stance yesterday that I am moved to suggest that you show him mercy and drop the dog on top of the car thing. As for me, I promise never to chuckle about it again.
2
Trump has not learned a lesson but I hope the Democrats have. Impeachment was never going to lead to removal from office. Democrats needed from the start to put all of their energy into the 2020 election. With impeachment/no removal all the Dems have succeeded in doing is firing up Trump's base and demoralizing their own. Everybody knew this would be the result from the start. So here is what Democrats have shown the electorate: (1) they can't win an impeachment/removal (2) they can't run a simple election (Iowa, shades of the Obamacare rollout) and (3) they have no idea where to go from here. To top it off, the Democrat-friendly New York Times and Washington Post splashed bold banners Wednesday - "ACQUITTED". Democrats - get your heads out of the sand. Trump is about to be re-elected. It's your own fault. Show us something besides the mess listed above and doomed-to-fail health care plans. If you really are not for open borders tell us that loudly. Please. What about foreign policy? What about trade? Do you care about those things? I don't see it in the news coverage. Do something credible and talk in specifics, not in generalities. Talk to Bill Clinton about how to communicate with voters. There are many good things you can do but you are not doing them.
4
I missed today's news conference 'by choice', from what I can gather from cable news reports Trump behaved like he always does unhinged , a sore winner, and spent over an hour lying to an audience of cult like Republican politicians .
Allowing no questions from Reporters, which then begs the question why did the networks give this President over an hour of free air time.
Alas Susan Collins you have been proven incorrect again, and as usual made the wrong call, the President does not acknowledge that he did anything wrong, and clearly has no intention of changing his behavior.
Apparently while he called out platitudes to those he considered his bros, brothers in arms, his chief defenders. He neglected to mention or praise Lamar Alexander , who though voting against impeachment did happen to mention that he found the call inappropriate . For that faux pas he was ignored at the Trump freak show.
At least unlike Senator Romney or Speaker Pelosi Trump did not question Senator Alexanders faith.
When President Clinton was impeached and was found not guilty , the following morning he made an apology to the nation from the Rose Garden.
I almost chocked on my coffee this morning when I heard a journalist speculate as to whether Trump might do the same.
Gail as you are well aware this President will not change not ever he clearly prefers to stew in his own anger, playing the victim.
To think that he calls people who think like I do Snowflakes is laughable .
2
Willard isn't a hero. Please stop claiming he is. He's trying to make himself appear reasonable to the 70% of voters in the middle for his 2024 POTUS run.
Senator Collins should get an early start on packing up her office. Her “aspirational” comments that Trump has “learned his lesson” are so obviously naive and out of touch with the moment. Maine voters will set her straight in November.
4
Only those who've been proved wrong "learn a lesson." President Trump did nothing wrong. No lesson to learn.
If there is a history to look back, it had darn well better remember the myriad of ways and times Mitt rolled over for Trumpism. Yeah, he did a good thing, but how much credit do you get for too little and too late?
Maybe enough to forget about the dog...??
Mitt Romney simply picked up where John McCain left off as the unhappy Republican presidential loser who is vexed that the wrong Republican is now president. It wasn't supposed to be like this!! Mitt Romney voted to convict Trump out of spite.
If Nancy Pelosi had a shred of decency she would resign as Speaker. She gambled and lost big time.
The Iowa debacle is still unresolved.
2020 isn't off to a real good start for the Democrats.
1
I've always felt it was better to die on one's feet than live on one's knees. Sure, it was noble and admirable for Mitt to vote as he did. (Still thought no obstruction???) But, c'mon. This "President" enlisted foreign assistance to interfere in our electoral system! Blackmailed a desperate ally! Then refused to cooperate with a congressional investigation! Obstructed justice!
My point: How much courage does it take to stand up for the Constitution and the people of the USA?
3
Think Gail Collins has learned a lesson ? Hahahaha.
Trump has really had his moment now and the Democratic Party handed it to him on a platter.
His totally unacceptable behaviour has now the official endorsement of the Republican Party, and his record of ineptness as POTUS is now replaced with his new record of overcoming the odds, no matter what.
Nancy Pelosi has managed to turn this dark horse of an outsider and a complete non-politician into a consummate politician and turned the image of a corrupt businessman masquerading as a politician, into that of a politician who can leverage the existing political structure into a power structure for himself and his political agenda.
1
The day after his acquittal? What did you expect, sober reflection and a pledge to spare the country such a crisis again?
He's doing exactly what he did the day after the Mueller Report. What he does next will be even more eye-popping as it is Round 2 of The Psychopath's Deliverance.
3
As for Ms. Collins, one only need to refer to Revelations 3:16, the venerable King James Version:
"So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."
Turns out, the Bible is a handy reference every now and then.
I regret to say that what doesn't kill President Trump only seems to make him stronger, and his base more motivated. I keep hoping I'll wake up in the morning and this surreal nightmare will be over. But it's not.
188
@T Norris how right you are. This will not be over for a long time. A generation of angry old (white) men needs to fade and new fresh ideas gain traction. That is not coming from an electorate struggling to keep up in a rapidly changing society, certainly not from the Senate eternally kept in place by that electorate (Thank you Mr. Romney, shame on you Ms. Collins) and only from a handful of House members. I am over 60 and have seen the winds change before but when and from which direction next?
17
Reagan did the same thing: borrowed a lot of money, doubling the national debit from 1 trillion to 2 trillion in 8 years, and called that prosperity.
Trump is borrowing a lot of money, and doing the same: calling that prosperity.
The American people ... they say stuff like, « I don’t like Trump, but he is good for the economy ».
The truth is that he is poison for the economy, but the effects of the poison will not be seen in the short run.
8
Trump might have learned not to yell quite so loudly when discussing conspiracies over the phone with someone in a restaurant.
On the other hand, he still hasn't learned to stand respectfully instead of clowning around during the national anthem at Mar-a-Lago, so maybe not.
5
The conclusion from this is that Trump can legally now work with a foreign government to win another election. Say goodbye to Democracy and to the environment of the earth as we know it. Is the runaway greenhouse effect in our future?
5
Now it's a global conspiracy that determines our President. Ironic that white nationalists are selling out our sovereignty to a global cabal of a diverse nature.
"Romney ... was an actual profile in courage."
Two requirements, both necessary, define "political courage": (1) following one's conscience and (2) knowing full well the dire consequences of doing so.
In the impeachment trial, Democratic Senators were limited in their opportunities to qualify - not so Republican Senators. Sure, some Republican Senators may have met the first requirement, but any Republican voting to acquit the President rendered the second impossible.
Mitt Romney - and also Doug Jones of Alabama - came up roses on both.
4
While I will never forget the abuse meted out to poor Seamus, I did leave a message on Senator Romney's website thanking him for his courageous defense of the rule of law and the Constitution. The senator's speech was a rare ray of light at a dark, dark hour.
4
Mitch meant what he said about partisanship, he just defines words his own way. When he said that people are trying to divide us, what he meant was that people were trying to divide *Republicans* against themselves. When he said not to get caught up in partisan rancor, he was telling the Republicans not to listen to what Democrats say. He, and Republicans in general, do not believe Democrats are rightful Americans or that they have any right to participate in government. They believe Republicans are the only true Americans, so when they say things like, "America is tired of the partisanship," they're really saying, "*Republicans* are tired of hearing Democrats speaking."
3
The test of morality is not when one makes the correct choice which rewards them or costs them little or nothing; the test is when one makes the correct choice despite the cost. Romney passed the test yesterday. Collins, Murkowski, Mike Lee, Cory Gardner, Marco Rubio and the others who pretend to a moral stance did not.
4
Gail, Trump HAS learned a lesson. He's learned that he can do whatever he wants and not have to pay the consequences -- and still have the support of the Republican party (other than the very courageous Mitt Romney). Looks like Trump was right when he said "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters."
7
Seamus should never forgive Mitt Romney for his ride on the roof rack. Thank you Gail for working that into your column as I knew you would, although you made us wait until the last sentence. However I for one am now willing to cut Romney a little slack. More importantly for Mitt, history will judge him well for his courage in voting to allow witnesses (what a novel idea for a trial) and to convict Trump.
4
Every so often in life you do something that you can never quite forget, that echoes in your mind at odd times and places. If you’re lucky it’s something like Mitt Romney did, where he will get to feel quietly good over and over in the coming years. Or it’s like what those Republicans who knew better and went on and betrayed our country and our constitution and their fellow citizens, and who will get to suffer the silent shame they suffered yesterday, again and again over many years.
4
Mitt Romney:
Denied that Obama-care came from Romney-care.
Ran an add that edited Obama's words "you didn't build that." And when asked by reporters, he stood by it.
Kissed Trump's ring when he thought he had a chance for Secretary of State.
I watched Romney's speech. Seemed heartfelt. But Romney has long ago shown us his character.
An interesting detail, apparently there were only 4 senators in the chamber when Romney gave his speech.
We'd never know that from the video. McConnell prohibited filming he audience.
McConnell is definitely good at what he does.
2
Susan Collins showed that she was an invertebrate during the Kavanaugh hearings. To paraphrase, "I think Ms Blasey Ford is right, but it wasn't him". Now "Trump learned a lesson".
My lesson, continue to support the Maine Democratic Party financially. I will volunteer to elect anyone but Susan Collins.
8
I can't believe Gail went for the dog thing again!
I really appreciate Romney, not merely for agreeing with me, but for giving me happiness that there was one person who acted with integrity towards his beliefs, even though they were unpopular ones. He did a beautiful thing.
I cannot say the same for Alexander, Murkowski, Collins, et. al - "I know it's wrong but don't think it's impeachable" is a reason for censure, not empty words. The most hurtful thing about the impeachment for me was that Republicans wouldn't stand up for basic fairness for every American. Once you are willing to allow a President to cheat in the national election, you have no moral limits, and you obviously don't care about democracy - only power. That makes me feel truly unprotected. My rights and my voice as a citizen meant nothing to them, because I am a Democrat. Worse, their supporters seem to largely agree, although I hope that is because they are getting distorted information.
Although some everyday Trump supporters may feel that only they are "true Americans," they'll soon learn that being "American" will only extend as far as they agree with the President. What is happening to Romney right now will be happening among citizens very soon - people will conform out of fear, and those who speak up will be made pariahs. Citizens already fear discussing politics in mixed company. These bad vibes began with Trump and no one else.
5
This vote - about Trump ostensibly engaging in conflict of interest over the coming election - will be remembered for the actual COI by 3 US Senators.
Klobuchar, Sanders and Warren are running for the President but were allowed to vote against their potential competitor. Blatant COI - worse than what the the President has been accused of - and no one bats an eye.
Your argument is with the Constitution.
Ok, it took you to the last sentence, but your streak remains unbroken.
3
Utah is in the process of passing legislation to be able to recall a U.S. Senator. I fully expect it to pass and be used on Romney for his vote.
1
@KR I know there are governor recalls, but that this picked up steam is very concerning.
To KR—Shameful!
I'm not a fan of Mitt, and have mixed feelings on whether this was really a courageous move on his part. He has Godlike status in Utah, and I doubt his re-election is in doubt at all. I'm guessing that most of the social media hate mail he receives is not from his Utah Mormon constituents, who hopefully have been influenced by him to oppose Trump in the future. On the other hand he has a target on his back from many republicans and all of the Trump base, Fox News, etc. Many of said Republicans likely are secretly envious.
158
@Rupert Laumann I'm with you and have mixed feelings about Romney. For most of his political career he's pandered to whatever would get him elected or in a position of influence. (Remember the humiliating dinner with Trump.) My personal, no-basis-in-actual-knowledge belief is: (1) Romney is dumbfounded that Trump was elected president but he was not (maybe he should have run in 2016); and (2) he still burns with humiliation from that dinner. Voting to convict, even if only one count, is his one chance to truly stick it in Trump's eye, to deprive Trump of the claim that impeachment was a partisan act. I don't doubt he genuinely believed Trump had committed an impeachable act, but paying Trump back for the unfairness of his election and humiliation made Romney's vote a little sweeter.
14
@Rupert Laumann-I believe principled, moderate Republicans are desperate for someone who can lead the party out of the Trump madness. Romney has the experience, record, vision, and moral fiber to be that person. He has the wealth to put together a team and a message that can carve out a new, sane path for Republicans and get out front in the media. He also has a shining example of inspired leadership in his own father. I hope he'll pick up the mantle and contribute to a legacy his father would approve.
11
@Rupert Laumann I have no mixed feelings about Romney. Romney rushed to eat frog legs with Trump when he thought there was a chance to serve in his administration. He has no principles, just calculations about what is good for Mitt at the time. He couldn't justify not voting to impeach Trump and then go back to the good Mormons of Utah and explain it.
10
Aah Gail,
As I read your column I got to thinking that, because Mitt had finally showed himself to be a man of principle and courage, you would resist the temptation of bringing up Seamus. And you did resist right up until the penultimate sentence. However, I will forgive you bringing it up, because, truth be told, I'd have been disappointed if you hadn't
5
Gosh it would be so fantastic if the media would focus on retrieving the facts and focus on the truth and the facts.
Trump's impeachment lawyer at center of impeachment probe.
Disbar Cipollone .
Bolton claims Pat Cipollone allegedly witnessed a reported conversation in which John Bolton claims Trump tried to recruit him for his Ukraine scheme.
4
Trump is basically Nixon with the hide of a rhino. Impeachment was meant to weaken him but it's all water off a duck's back. The Republicans have found a candidate almost tailor-made for the age of internet, that's why their instinct is to support him no matter what. Now it's the turn of the Democrats to find the man of the hour.
Forget Trump! We haven't learned the lesson. We cannot recognize that our newspapers don't sell the information but the impression...
2
I must be the only person on the planet not familiar with the dog-on-the-roof story.
Is it kind of like Pam Bondi's dog story? You know Pam, the former FL AG who squashed the investigation into Florida's epicenter role in the foreclosure debacle after taking campaign "contributions" from the very companies her Republican predecessor was investigating, a practically incoherent member to Trump's legal team. That Pam. The Pam Bondi who refused to return a dog adopted because of Hurricane Katrina after its owners had been found.
That kind of dog story?
4
Collins presumably thinks she threaded the needle with that Trump has learned his lesson nonsense. But that’s not going to please pro-Trump voters in Maine. Not only don’t they think he did anything wrong; they think he has no need to learn anything as he already knows everything.
2
The real question is, have the Democrat party and the partisan career political hacks who inhabit it learned their lesson? Obviously not. Even now Schiff, Pelosi, Nadler and Schumer are planning new charges against the president. They brought a weak impeachment case from the House to the Senate, and they lost on the merits. Their agenda is one of hate for a duly elected president. And by the way, Mitt Romney is now toast. The one time Democrat turned Republican has turned again. The people of Utah will not reelect a traitor to their best interests.
2
When was Mitt Romney ever a Democrat?
@paul "...popular-minority-vote elected president." There: fixed it for you.
@paul You throw the word "traitor" around haphazardly. Can you point to which country that the United States is currently at war with that Romney assisted?
I was waiting with bated breath for the punchline: "Not even the time he drove to Canada with a dog on the roof of the car." G.C., you never disappoint!
1
Bravo, Senator Romney, lone standout among craven Trumpkins.
4
Trump will not learn, but the results of this farce of a trial may bring him down anyway. Hubris, the excessive pride and arrogance that has always been a feature of Trump’s personality, will now be on steroids. He now thinks he can do anything with impunity and he will go too far. Trump will provide the ammunition for his own downfall. The Democrats have to keep it simple and check their egos at the door when it comes to electing a leader, failure to do so will result in the dreaded”four more...”.
1
Better than nobody and gratifying to watch, but, we live in a time and place where the courage of one man to come forward and speak the truth is an occasion for, “drinks on the house”? If we all lived in Sodom, this morning we’d be picking through the ashes...
1
Trump has learned a lesson alright. He can do what he wants with impunity and the Republicans won't cross him. He needs to be voted out BIGLY in November.
6
I am no Romney fan. But I took the time to call his D.C. office today and thank him for his vote to convict.
3
He's learned that he can do anything he wants and get away with it....
Trump learned that it's completely acceptable to destroy Democracy, get away with it, attempt it again, get away with it, ad nauseam. He's learned that you can hurt people, assault women, destroy relationships, trash the Constitution, cage children, and get away with it. We've learned that America will never be the same.
2
Using Collins' "learning a lesson" logic to let trump off the hook, then Harvey Weinstein should be acquitted because he's learned his lesson from his horrible trial and will never do it again.
3
trump did learn a lesson... The lesson being that he can do as he wishes without consequences and the republicans will protect him no matter what the crime.
I’m sure somewhere amongst his minions, some sniveling little toad is looking for more ways to increase his power.
The Democrats might as well call off the election and hand him the title of “King”, because as far as the republicans are concerned, trump is above the law and has unlimited power.
He will cheat, commit voter fraud, invite foreign powers to help him win re-election and do whatever he pleases to attain another term... and when that’s done he’ll insist on another term.
The republicans won’t stop him.
The game is already rigged and the judges have all openly admitted that cheating and criminal activity is not a concern.
Back in 1861 the first attempt to destroy the United States from within came when eleven southern states seceded from the Union...
Future historians will point to trump’s acquittal as the moment when corrupt and greedy republicans successfully overthrew the rule of law and handed over power to a dictator.
The republicans finally succeeded at what the confederacy failed to do in the first civil war.
What's the sad part is Americas suburbs will be an absolute bloodbath if another civil war starts.
Susan Collins.....tell me in all good faith that you believe our president has learned his lesson. Are you kidding me? He’s just so contrite in his speech today! Shame on every Republican except one who would stand for his convictions, Mitt Romney
4
Our national tragedy is that the more journalists we have the worse we are informed.
1
Trump is the Roy Cohen of American Presidents.
2
For the love of Pete, let go of the dog thing!
1
Ah Gail, you had to get in one more swipe about poor Seamus.
2
Hmm. Seems like the impeachment ordeal has turned our rogue president into a latter-day Robespierre who now will unleash a reign of political terror. No need for the guillotine this time.
The only person Susan Collins fools with her sincerity is Susan Collins.
2
The “dog on the roof of the car” story never gets tired!
Romney's Senate seat is not in danger. Nonetheless he deserves a ton of credit for voting to convict. Murkowski, Alexander, and Collins, talk a good game. They pretend to deliberate, they pretend to be serious thinkers. They are not. Their lips are firmly affixed to Trump's derriere, like the lips of all their GOP colleagues. Luckily Trump is generously proportioned and there is room for all of these leeches to feed off him.
3
A message to the DNC. Take the gloves off, its Fight Club. Get your act together. Get the vote out.
4
@northeastsoccermum
Hmmm, you think impeachment was not Fight Club enough????
After Mitch's 47% comment and his treatment of Obama during the 2012 race, I wrote him off as a wind sock and a jerk.
Now, I'd like to take that Medal of Freedom off the obscenely undeserving Limbaugh and give it to a man who actually displayed courage, honor and love of country over his personal well being. Thank you Mitch.
104
@Deb Mitch or Mitt. Under no concievable circumstances is Mitch McConnell deserving of the Medal of Freedom, let alone re-election. And you said it right the first time, he's a "wind sock and a jerk;" and so much more, but I'll keep it polite.
3
@Deb You do mean Mitt (Romney) and not Mitch (McConnell), right?
3
Over the last four decades we stubbornly tried to solve our problems by changing the presidents.
It will never work.
If you want the progress, change the journalists!
The Republican Party of my parents is lost, gone forever and I will not vote for any member of that party running for any local, state, or national office ever again.
556
Same here. My family were firm Republicans - right up until Bush II. They held their noses and voted for Reagan, they liked Bush I OK, but Dubya turned them all into Democrats. All of them served in the military right through Korea (no males in the Vietnam generation or they would probably have been there, too) and I am glad that none of them are here to see what the country they all fought for has become. Trump would have horrified every single one of them.
75
@Nancy Exactly, father, mother, grandparents - military family and die hard Republicans - Regan was God- then the tide turned after. during GW and in 2008 all voted for Obama. Not just a Democrat - a black Democrat! The Republicans of old - fiscal conservatives, God, guns and family - gone. As far as this current WH resident- well, as my mother at 86 said- I can't stand his lack of empathy, 5th grade speech patterns, orange skin, little mouth and apparent lack of knowledge. No mention of hair but that was a given.
53
@Nancy
Me too, no Republican, ever again, even on the local level where I have regularly switched parties.
34
As I listen to Trump's Thursday speech I can say without any chance of contradiction that Trump didn't learn anything from his impeachment. Hyperbole, outright lies, and totally self-centered with no sense of shame or embarrassment that he was impeached for improper actions.
And while I appreciate Romney's "guilty" vote I don't see it as a profile in courage. The president already despises him. His vote didn't cost him any support in a state that doesn't like Trump. The people of Utah will probably continue to elect him to any office he wants. He wasn't putting anything on the line by voting "guilty."
Susan Collins probably put the nail in her coffin by voting "not guilty." She deserves defeat for her spinlessness. Her daring vote on witnesses came on an issue already decided. And then she caved on the actual vote. Goodbye, Susan.
5
I normally do not vote on party lines. Mitt Romney was the only Republican with any guts. What's next? Vote out all Republican senators and congresspeople in the 2020 election. Then, Democrats might get the majority it needs even if Trump wins.
4
The Republican senators repeatedly said that they would not hold Trump accountable for his misdeeds and that they should be adjudicated by the electric in the coming 2000 election. Everyone should agree with that. It’s time for us to get organized and prove to the world that we are a nation of laws. We need to ensure that the election is free from foreign influence. That the votes are carefully tallied. That there is no voter suppression. That everyone has a chance to state their preference.
This should be a bipartisan effort. The Republicans are said repeatedly that the people should decide. Now let’s make them live up to their words.
1
Bravo to S Romney with two cautions not meant to diminish the plaudit:
one, his consequences will not rise to the level of Sir/Saint Thomas More's; or even Galileo's.
two, on a more pedestrian level, the senator is well insulated against the likely-to-be inflicted consequences unlike ordinary folks who have nothing like his degree of insulation but feel they can't step up and as a result don't, and suffer their own consequences viz., a lifetime of knowing they didn't.
As I watch his "victory lap" speech, I am humbled at Susan Collins' insight. It is so clear that he has learned a real lesson from the impeachment.
Unfortunately, that lesson is that he is untouchable and will never again have to be troubled by the lines between truth/lies or civility/disrespect.
8
What M. Romney said and did restored a tiny bit my faith in that there members of the republican party that have principles. Maybe there are more?? OK now I am dreaming!.
2
And still Trump keeps crying for himself on national television (he's doing so as I write). Opposed by one lone voice, he can't stop telling us that the world is picking on him. Can you imagine what a basket case he would be if the number had been any larger?
Stop looking in the mirror, and do some work for a change.
4
No witnesses allowed to testify means guilty, you know it and don’t care. This trial has allowed us to see behind the mask of Republicans in the Senate and generally. We’re told of what a great act of courage and decency it is for one man to stand up and vote his conscience. Well, that’s just cheering over table scraps. If the vote had been 100 - 0 to convict on both counts, I’d say America is what it pretends to be.
3
I voted for Romney in 2012, the only time I vote for a Republican in my life. My family recognizes that my confidence in this honest man is vindicated.
(knock knock)
Gail – Seamus here…
Wish you’d stop telling that story about when I drove to Canada in an autonomous station wagon – with Mitt strapped to the driver’s seat, inside…
He was so livid when we got to the border – he rolled down the window and yelled out in French:
“Be sure to check behind the hubcaps”
Which – just check on Google Translate – roundtrips back as:
“Be sure to check all the body’s cavities”
Well, I’d never felt safer than when up in that bulletproof carrier, while a dozen AR15-wielding Quebecois border guards screaming at him in French:
“Hit the ground”
Which Mitt understood as:
“Rapidly punch the pavement”
Yeah – none of that made it into the [holiday] letter…
So, Gail – let’s silence our snout, jut our journalistic jaw less out…
Otherwise, I go to Margaret and play the tapes…
Yes, there are tapes – Lordy lordy, are there tapes…
Contemporaneous notes, too…
3
Gail, your references to Mitt Romney lashing family dog Seamus (in his crate) to the top of the Romney family station wagon have been a chuckle for years, but maybe it’s time to move on. Did you perchance catch the video of Mike Bloomberg shaking the muzzle – – that’s right, gripping and repeatedly shaking the MUZZLE – – of a service dog recently? I hope you feel a Mike Bloomberg column coming on. It will write itself.
2
I agree as usual.
The individual who stands out as the most despicable is the coward from Main. I wonder if she is aware of the Lords of Karma.
1
A Seamus reference!!!!
1
Susan Collins has proven to be the most naive Senator, probably in history. Would her voters please just get rid of her? she is just awful.
2
Thank you Gail. You really left me hanging with the "will she/won't she" until you did on the last two lines of the column. Phew.
1
Susan Collins is the mother who's kid is the bully in school and she sues the school for saying bad things about her little Trump.
Hope she gets voted out. This will just emboldened Trump to be worst. He has the who Republican party, except Mitt, standing up for his bad behavior. Plus FOX.
I hope the Senate goes Blue in November.
3
Thank you Gail, having read all your columns about Mitt over the years, you are correct. This courageous act, even for a Mormon senator from Utah, did take a lot of nerve and more backbone than his fellow republicans could ever muster, despite his own flip flops over the years.And Susan Collins is just, sad. Let’s keep her sad by having her stay in Maine after November as a private citizen. Btw, loved that you got the dog in there!
2
Don't forget Ben Sasse the jellyfish from Nebraska. He writes all these ethical-sounding books preaching about morality, honesty, and how to raise responsible adults. In the end, he is another Quisling - a liar, a traitor, a morally-vacant stooge for the most immoral criminal man ever to occupy the White House. If Sasse is really a Christian, he needs to fear the Scriptural admonition "revenge is Mine says the Lord."
4
The Trumpian Motto: "Semper Idem": Always the Same - "Learn Nothing and Forget Nothing"
Well played, Gail!
Susan Collin's career is dead. She and Murkowski are career hucksters, who will be voted out of office.
4
Wrong. Shamus on the car roof will never be forgotten.
"Perhaps, people of Maine, you haven’t noticed that your senator’s political independence tends to work best when the matter at hand is meaningless."
Excuse me, Gail? We've been "noticing" it for years! She's the female Joe Lieberman. A spineless wimp with her finger to the wind. And finally, having gone unabashedly full-on Trumpian, we have a chance to get rid of her!
6
Ok, Gail. I laughed at your last sentence. But maybe in honor of Mitt’s moment of integrity you should retire the dog.
A crook will be always a crook. Some senators comments like “ He learned his lesson” is laughable. These senators are just using excuse to jutify their immoral, unconstitutional act. Shame on you. When you wake up and see your face in the mirror, your conscience will be darker than any dark. Live with rest of your life.
1
I'm sending a contribution to Sara Gideon, challenger for Susan Collins' Maine Senate seat, pronto.
Hope I have lots of company!
Let's get rid of the invertebrates!
1
Grrrrrr....how can I help drive Collins out of office ASAP?
Oh...here's how: I can donate to the campaign of a future Democratic challenger right now:
"#DEFEATCOLLINS
"Collins Voted To Acquit Donald Trump
Susan Collins is completing the cover-up in the Senate and acquitting the most corrupt President in our history. If we are going to have a shot at kicking Collins out of the Senate, we need to start helping the Maine Democrats now."
[https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ma-me-defeatcollins]
"Fund Susan Collins' Future Opponent"
3
Trump was brilliantly successful. Biden the democrats hopeful has been destroyed. Trump is acquitted. He has attained Martyr status. The Dems look like babbling fools, wasteful, incompetent misguided, haters, simpletons, non coordinated and totally desperate. They clearly would have difficulty running the world's largest economy and global superpower.
The photos of Susan Collins these days seem to be showing quite a lot of thin skin.
2
Oh, Gail, I love you. “A learning curve that resembles a garter snake.” Can I borrow that for the rest of my life?
1
Romney comes from a Mormon state. The Mormons detest trump, for the same reason all normal people detest Trump - he is a sociopath. So Romney has no fear of being voted out for his vote. Of course the corrupt Repubs in the Senate will punish him by refusing to work with him on anything.
2
More importantly,Have you learned anything Gail? The House’s impeachment was a sham and Pelosi looked juvenile with her antics.
Biden failed to lead in Iowa. The die is cast. 4 more years!!!
Hey Senator Collins....he’s already taking it out on New Yorkers by revoking global entry literally hours after you acquired a guilty man. What’s next?
1
Hey, Gail, besides being rich and still having five years in the senate what about Mitt's dog?
Wow. You got the dog in!
I love you Gail, always hae, always will.
Dear Mike Bloomberg,
Will you please buy Fox News?
Sincerely,
Everyone Who Loves The Truth
7
Mitch is open book, we know his banality. However Collins tries very hard to sow high minded she is while still remain at Trump's beck and call. That is most pathetic.
1
Gail, I have to confess. I clicked on this article just to see if you would mention Mitt Romney and the dog on the roof of his car. I was not disappointed.
1
Yes it was Susan Collins waffling her non stand that was most disgusting though as you say, 'At least she had enough respect for you to pander'. but of course pandering shows little respect at all as it caters to the lowest common denominators within your constituents. Maine are you l watching Maine are you watching this weaseling display? i know you have enough self respect to know what to do in November.
1
Well done, Gail! ... tho’ I do fear the garter snakes’s been seriously maligned...
2
Better question ---
Have Pelosi, Schiff and Nadler learned their lesson?! No
The TDS that we witnessed the last 3 months with this Impeachment Hoax, and the culmination of Nancy's behaviour at the SOTU -- shows why Dems lose.
Rodney King said it best, "Can't we get along?"
Its time for Pelosi to fall on her sword and extend an olive branch to the President, and start working on a coherent agenda.
Gail, for years you said repeatedly that Romney tied his dog to the roof of his car when he went to Canada. You never once mentioned the reality that the dog was inside a cabin built by Romney himself.
Why did you not bother to find out the facts about Romney's dog? You have a lot of power, and you used that power to damage a good man. From the Wikipedia,
"Seamus rode in a carrier on the roof of the family's Chevrolet Caprice station wagon for the 12-hour trip. Romney had built a windshield for the carrier to make the ride more comfortable for the dog"
Romney is a Republican and here at the NYT you could get away with your untruth. But it was wrong, what you did.
2
@Ludwig Maybe Gail, you could apologize to Romney?
Sociopaths don't learn lessons. It's really that simple.
2
"Not even the time he drove to Canada with a dog on the roof of the car." - Gail, is there some kind of a backstory here?
If a murderer has learned his lesson after a trial we should just skip sentencing and let him go, right Susan Collins?
2
wait for it....
2
No longer a laughing matter, Gail.
3
"Could be worse. At least she respects you enough to pander."
Please stop telling us about this useless woman, Collins---so predictable.
2
You crack me up, Gail. I really thought that you might get through this piece without mentioning the dog. Good job.
The worst Republican act of partisan treachery is widely considered to be McConnell's delaying Garland's
Supreme Court appointment. But McConnell was hardly alone in this regard. He manipulated the timing of a Senatene vote, and when he did it, it seemed like a futile act as Hillary was way ahead in the polls. The same thing has gone on forever across the aisle, a matter Democrats conveniently forget.
Manipulative voting is pervasive among Democrats. And Pelosi is a master at it. She has passed hundreds of bills in the House that haven't a chance in the Senate. She timed the impeachment vote for partisan advantage. She has even used legislation to undermine the Squad. And she crafted the ACA so it would bar abortion funding and would help poor Democrats while doing nothing for about 27 million working class Americans, mostly Republicans, who fell in the 'coverage gap.'
As for Obama, he enacted countless partisan provisions at the end of his Presidency, affecting millions of Americans as he saw fit, over the objection of Congress. Obama even awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Joe Biden in his last days, paving the way for Rush Limbaugh.
Collins is a complete fraud. She feigns an interest in being respectful of our constitution and the laws of the land and then walks away.
4
Has OJ sent trump his congratulations yet?
3
The dog! You got in the dog! Haha. Gail Collins will go down in history!
2
And now, for something completely the same...to paraphrase Monty Python. Trump is a coward, and he's being followed by cowards. I'm not too impressed by every single Republican missing hte obstruction charge.
Shame on Susan Collins!!!!! He’s learned his lesson??? Who is she kidding besides herself? Unbelievable she actually had the nerve to say that!!!!!
2
If Trump learned anything it must be to have the Justice Department look into the corruption of Joe Biden and not to start it himself.
Here we have Biden caught in his own boastfulness threatening to withhold aid unless a Ukraine prosecutor is withdrawn from investigating Burisma, the most corrupt company in the Ukraine. We are then to believe that the fact that his son gets a healthy salary from Burisma had nothing to do with it.
Only Democrats could be dumb enough to buy that crock of..... but diabolical enough to use it to impeach Trump. The mind boggles.
1
As I read your column, and thank you for your telling it like it is, as I read your column, you do not actually think that Susan Collins ever walks her talks, do you? The expression: talking out of the 2 sides of your mouth fits her to a T...lack of integrity and I have many a words regarding her that I am unable to type in this comment, I so want my comment to be published by the NYTimes....and thank you, NYTimes for always saying what others have no guts to say.
What does it take, New York Times? After this I hope I'll never see the word "moderate" in front of the name "Susan Collins" in your reporting, ever, ever, ever, again. Whoever she is as a person, she's a disgrace as an elected representative and a failure as a citizen.
3
Bravo!! Arf! Arf!
1
And in a followup to my previous comment about retribution, the Washington Post just announced that Trump is now going after protected federal monuments in southern Utah. Wait for it - something targeting California won’t be far behind and I’ll bet it’s going to be a doozy. Thanks, Republicans. You have ensured that the rest of the year is going to be a living hell.
1
Susan Collins' naive belief that Trump has "learned his lesson" not only will be heralded on protest signs at her upcoming rallies for re-election, but shows a bewildering lack of judgment by this "centrist" Republican that argues against her being returned to the Senate. She has clearly joined the Cult of Trump.
It’s early, but I expect that Mitch McConnell, “sitting like a nesting hen on piles of Barack Obama’s judicial nominations,” will be the most disturbing mage I consider today.
2
Definition of Fake News : Anything uttered by Republicans.
5
You did it! The last sentence. I knew you would work the dog on the roof in there somewhere.
I will summarize a comment I made yesterday:
--Trump is un-educable; professionals in developmental psychology agree that to attain at least a 4th grade education, i.e., to be "educable", someone must have an IQ above 50. By this standard, Trump's "stable genius" is one accompanying an IQ of no higher than 50!
--Susan Collins is delusional and a disgrace to the tradition of Sen.s Olympia Snowe and Margaret Chase Smith. Time for her to be retired from Congress.
1
Gail
In this difficult time, thanks for bringing back the dog on the car roof.
1
"Don't you love farce?
My fault, I fear
I thought that you'd want what I want
Sorry, my dear!
But where are the clowns
Send in the clowns
Don't bother, they're here"
1
Angry ?
give ten bucks to the folks running against these spinless enablers in AZ, NC, CO, ME -
flip those seats
and let's demand the dems play hard pay back ball
if trump somehow manages to get reelected
a dem senate which passes zero of his judges and says no to everyone and everything of his will work for me
1
What kind of garter snake? Living or dead?
1
Have to say I was hoping you'd get the dog story in here!!!
The Teflon Don dodges another bullet.
He will be impeached again, or indicted.
1
Cut the man a break about his dog, at least today! He earned the title of “The Honorable Mitt Romney.”
Snuck it in there. Nice.
If I ever put my 7-year-old Irish Terrier Suzie on the roof of my van, she would tear the roof off and then eat me.
We can rest assured that one political vow will never be broken. That's Gail's vow to always mention the dog on the roof of Mitt's car every time she writes about him. Well done. But he's still the hero of the day..
1
Well I should preface this with”all due respect,” but Susan Collins deserves NO respect for her vote or her allegiance to party over country. She deserves our repudiation and to be voted out of office and into infamy. She definitely does not make me proud to spell my name w-o-m-e-n. For shame!!!
Scary, scary, scary to democracy that voting your conviction is such big news.
And disturbing to our future to think voting against your party is traitorous.
I nominate Mitt Romney for the Medal of Freedom.
1
Great column, Ms. Collins. And a great last line about Romney's dog, the canine who will not be forgotten.
Hahahaha.....
“Trump is a man with a learning curve that resembles a garter snake” is an insult to garter snakes.
1
Susan Collins is something that slithers. She proves it again and again and again. And Democrats somehow keep believing she'll get a backbone and do the right thing. Amazing.
1
More to the point, Gail....
Do you think the DNC Political Machine has learned a lesson?
Yes, Mitt Romney, a guy rich enough and good enough to be okay with all the haters, shamers, bots and trolls coming his way (from Trump, Putin and others). Good for him and good for honesty.
I predict Trump's meltdown before November. This shyster is very unstable in so many ways. That's not going away. His bullying, racist, angry, hateful ways are also just part of the package.
Democrats must talk issues, first. Then list some of the terrible policies Trump's engineered, many dealing with the sickened planet and the most neediest Americans. Then list some of the worst words and actions; his immorality. Sneaking into the dressing room of Miss Universe to peep at the women. Saying he '..likes soldiers that weren't captured' (this from the 'bone spur' guy of little, real guts). Etc.
Then, back to who Democrats are, what Americans should be and how we will deal with climate, inequality, health care, housing, abortion, guns, immigration, etc. Democracy is a hard row to hoe; just like life. We can do this because so many people are really good at heart, caring and not so selfish. Remember.
Much destruction is being done by the traitor-President & his Republican henchmen. Don't leave all that out; never forget the Putin-Trump love affair. Selling out Ukraine. Selling out the Kurds. Selling out you tomorrow. The contamination of America is real.
Thank you, Mitt, Gail, Krugman, Friedman, Blow, NYTimes, MSNBC, CNN, simple-warm-hearted Americans, light, truth, love, honor. Honor.
3
Gail, it’s time to give Mitt a break and let go of Seamus.
I guess there is only one honorable Republican. Let's send them all home for good, because they are very weak, dishonest people.
1
We in Canada would have loved to see Senator Mitt Romney take one more car trip, perhaps from Washington DC to James Bay. This time with Marshmallow Mountain strapped on the roof of his van.
Dump the load in the Bay, Canada will take care of the clean-up.
Trump has done us a big favor. First he exposed the rotten racist core of the country. The one that was operating quietly and in the background unnoticed by the majority of whites, even liberals. Now its in your face. You can't say you didn't know. Now he has exposed the weak, spineless, traitorous bunch called Senators. If you had any respect left for the so called leaders, you now see them exposed as sniveling rats hanging on to power at any cost to the nation, democracy or decency. So its all in the open and clear for all to see. Will the voters care? Im not too optimistic but at least now we will clearly get what we deserve.
Trump has lied and stolen all of his life. The only thing he's learned is cheating, lying, and stealing has its rewards.
Trump hasn't learned any lessons at all but "the American" people are about to learn some painful lessons.
3
He will never live down the dog on the roof.
Maine, which has actual conservatives (instead of criminals) and liberals voted for this liar. If they want an actual politician instead of a Trump stooge they need to vote her out.
1
Romney will be kicked out of the Republican Party. He's already been disinvited to CPAC (although why he ever went is a good question). They will marginalize him. This is what is wrong with politics today,although it’s much worse in the GOP. What is the point of even having representatives, if everyone is only allowed to vote as their party leader instructs? I look for politicians who are critical thinkers and vote their ideals, no matter the party they belong to. Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer of them. Collins is a joke. She splays it both ways. She needs to go home. Trump has never learned a lesson in his life. He’s always been a liar, cheat, and bully and will always be a liar cheat and a bully.
2
Reptilian as the president may be, I object to comparing his capacity for learning to garter snakes. It's unnecessarily offensive to garter snakes.
2
Thank you Gail for once again for bringing a little lightness to an otherwise dark and depressing subject. “...a learning curve that resembles a garter snake” is a keeper.
1
I like to think that now Seamus will greet Mitt in Heaven, wagging his tail and barking “All is forgiven.”
Nah.
1
In hearing Mitt Romney, I was reminded of this quote from the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “God is not a God of the emotions but the God of truth.”
After Bonhoeffer became aware of what was going on in the Nazi concentration camps he wrote "the ultimate question for a responsible man to ask is not how he is to extricate himself heroically from the affair, but how the coming generation shall continue to live."
It's easy to be cynical about politicians, but we've seen a number of them rise to the circumstances based on conscience. I posted these quotes in comments on another article, but wanted to share them here. Thank you for the article, Gail!
2
Mitt is a Morman. Any job that they control goes to a member of their church, regardless of other “qualifications.” Those of us who have witnessed, or worse, lost jobs because of their behaviour, just cannot stomach their discrimination and bigotry. If he were Protestant, he would have been President.
Just this once I thought you'd not mention the dog on the roof of the car...sorta out of respect...for the dog....not Mitt.
I now forgive him for driving to Canada with his dog tied to the roof of his car. How about if he is the one to drive Trump away from the White House when he is no longer the president. He may need to tie him to the roof.
Thank you Mitt Romney. Someone with principles....
1
One just man among a spineless Republican senate.
1
While McConnell's defeat would have the greatest positive impact for the country, Collins' defeat would be almost as satisfying. Just when I thought she had already sunk to the lowest possible depths of disingenuousness, she votes to acquit Trump all the while assuring us that he would nevertheless be chastened to not be a bad boy anymore.
And Romney once drove to Canada with a dog on the roof of the car?
The verdict on Collins is you can always count on her when you don’t need her.
Romney votes with Trump 79% of the time, but his vote ensures his place in history. That may not be a good thing if Trump ends up writing the history books.
Trump learned a lesson alright. He learned that whatever he does is just fine. There are no limits to his antics. When the Senate we have, lets him off the last charges, he knows there are no bounds.
It is time to change the Senate. Lets all get busy before it is too late.
1
Trump not only learned a lesson from this, he learned three of them:
He's exonerated.
He's omnipotent.
He's untouchable.
Hopefully we can teach him something different in November.
Dan Kravitz
1
Oh come on, you are pathetically looking for a crumb of good news when you elevate Romney for what he did. As you correctly reminded us, there will be no consequences for his decision. It was just a chance for him to grab the spotlight.
The whole impeachment story was pure Kabuki theater where everyone played their assigned role and the outcome was foreordained. The real question is why Democrats allowed themselves to be used this way. If you are satisfied with an asterisk on tRump’s name on the list of presidents going forward, you are so very shortsighted that I have my doubts about the governing ability of Democrats. If politics is a game of chess, the Dems never looked beyond the next move.
Yes, suddenly Romney is the epitome of supreme goodness or something. By doing his duty, I guess. Just doing that little thing makes him a hero, and, among republicans, unique.
Never mind that, during his campaign for president, he could assure us where he and Ann were born, nudge nudge, wink, at the height of trump's birther degradation of President Obama.
Never mind that he was just plain lame with his cheesy grits and New Hampshire trees. And then there's the dog.
No, god may have a lot to do with the way Romney behaves and the choices he makes. But then if there were a god, there wouldn't be trump.
So, sorry Romney. There's nobody up there somewhere keeping score on what a good boy you are, no leaderboard in the sky with your name at the top.
As for the likes of Susan Collins, well, let's just say she is too far past her best-before date and obviously has a very loose hold on reality. I hope Mainers giver her a much-needed rest. Soon.
1
Ms. Collins sentiments are totally appropriate, but the association of any light-hearted language with the calamity that engulfs this country and that is likely to stretch for 4 more years is gravely mistaken. It reflects the inability of the US society to attack Trump with the fierceness and hatred he deserves.
Collins almost never votes against her party when it would change the outcome - the one exception being when John McCain surprised everyone by upending the ACA repeal. And I have no doubt that if she could have changed her vote, she would have. Her hand-wringing this week was entirely crocodile tears.
Yep, this really the best time ever to be Mitt Romney. The political side that has hated his guts for twenty years loves him now.
Unfortunately, Tucker Carlson was right when he took Bain Capital and companies like it apart.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/02/05/mitt-romney-made-20k-for-every-american-laid-off/
By far the worse moment was Willard Mitt Romney playing and posing as a combination of King Solomon and Hamlet then cutting the impeachment baby- abuse of power and obstruction of Congress- in half while preening, prancing, parading and pretending to be bravely nobly standing against 'the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune' to be exalted by the left-wing mainstream media as a man of conscience.
Romney merely risks being the target of tweeting and speaking nicknames and slurs and caricatures from our Siberian President of the United States.
While our Russian Czar Father Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin sends his foes to hospitals, mental institutions, prisons, urns and coffins.
Romney didn't do the Jewish nor the Christian nor the Muslim faiths right thing in his half-stepping and half-brave political Senate Trump impeachment vote.
1
I'm offering, as a Democrat, bipartisan support for Collins reelection. I will send money to help Sara Gideon dump her off the Senate.
1
If people like Collins and Murkowski want to be taken seriously, they have to stop making dumb statements like "Trump will learn from this experience and be chastened by it."
NOBODY believes that. So stop insulting us by saying it.
3
After all that flip-flopping, shape-shifting and etch-a-sketching, Mittens got one right.
Good for him.
Trump did learn from his acquittal, that he is now free to be as brazen and unapologetic in his lies and corruption as he likes. He learned he can count on the Republicans to be as feckless and toadying as we expected. He has a Get Out of Jail Free card now, and we can be sure he will use it extensively, especially if we end up stuck with him for another four years.
2
"Learned his lesson"
That was the idea all along, wasnt it?
Dont dare inquire about a branded member of the swamp when they are engaged in pay for play corruption. Thats the meal ticket every politician is afforded, and entitles to, once they graduate. They all know it. Many, but not all of them, do it.
And this is what happens when you try. We'll attack you from every end. Launch endless investigations, including into everyone around you and all your friends, and attempt to ruin your reputation and pound you into submission.
Hunter Biden, the son of our former VP, also a drug addict, making 1 million per year for a 2 day per year job was par for the course. Trump didnt think so. Heck, neither did many of our left leaning media outlets, including the Times, and members of Obama's State Dept. But when Biden turned out to be their best hope for defeating Trump, it was all ignored, and used as an ave of attack.
Problem for them was, Trump got back up and slapped them around, again. Thats why they hate him.
@InvestAndProsper
$1 million a year is like toilet paper for the president, why would he care?
1
The worst moment for me goes back to the beginning of the whole Impeachment decision, back in the House days. It is laudable that so many believed that President Trump's actions deserved swift and strong adjudication. But let's do the math: Senate Impeachment hearings involve, let's see, the Senate; controlled by- yeah you got it Republicans, led by an attack dog of a leader who for his career has delighted in denying Democrats of even the tiniest of wins; Republicans, each of whom also live in mortal fear of public censure by- you guessed it, President Trump.
It's great to be principled; to do the right thing; to stand up for truth, justice, and the American way. As long as you can do all that without making yourself look like idiots. The Democrats gave the President a major win in an election year without even putting up much of a fight. In basketball terms this is called an unforced error.
1
@Jerry Meadows
He didn't win, because the American people (at least those who aren't his base) know the truth.
1
@Bonnie You bet, because prior to that it was a secret. Right?
Mitt Romney’s vote shows real moral courage and proves he is the man of faith he claims to be (accidental dog abuse notwithstanding). As a bonus, with one speech, he may have laid waste to Susan Collins’s re-election chances. Here’s hoping.
1
Trump is shameless. His entire business career and private life marked by outrageous acts of shamelessness. If re-elected he will continue his pattern of endless lying and impulsive and reckless decision making. This is well documented and well known to most Americans. And so they make an informed decision in November 2020. Do the majority of voting Americans want four more years of Trump chaos? Sitting securely north of all this I pray that more Americans wake up to the Trump menace.
1
I almost believed that Mitt’s stand today had inspired you to such a degree that you’d decided to retire the dog-on-the-car-roof mantra, but you surprised us all with your very last sentence. I applaud you, Gail, for your moral courage to stand firm on a joke that keeps on delivering no matter how many times we read it.
A favor though, can you begin a new inside-baseball joke whose subject is either Don Jr. or Jared? Eric’s too easy....
1
Gail, I told my husband this morning that when you wrote about Romney taking a stand, I knew you would slide in a mention of his dog on the roof of the car. You did not disappoint!
Have the Democrats learned a lesson?
Mr Romney is the only Republican that fears God more than Trump! Family values, faith in God, religiosity, supporting troops, good governance, and the rest of Republican talking points are just that, TALK! They have revealed themselves as money grubbing, cynical, self-serving, and hollow creatures! There is no Honor, Loyalty to Country, or dignity in these men and women. They have sold their selves to their new master and have become slaves to the Cult of Donald John Trump!
1
How did I not see the roof dog coming?!? Well done Gail! Literally laughed out loud.
Geez Gail. By this vote, I think Romney deserves to not be mocked anymore about the dog in the car roof.
1
You know he's going to pardon Bernie Madoff, because Bernie largely stole from dems.
1
Dogs learn better. Don’t expect American President to be as good as, well, your pet. Mitt is the last man standing on Mars Attack.
Why is this column not titled, "The Return of Seamus?"
So this is now the American idea of courage. A privileged white man with a net worth of $250 million dollars giving a short speech and casting a vote for conviction of a guilty, privileged white crook who claims to have a net worth of several billion dollars.
Thanks Gail, I was reading impatiently for when you would mention the dog on the roof; you did not disappoint
Well don,Gail. You never disappoint. Thanks for the Bow Wow reminder !
1
Thank god for that last line; thank you, Gail, for keeping it alive! But yeah, for today, Go Mittens!
"Hahahaha." That pretty much covers the Trump learning issue.
Mike Braun, Rep. Indiana, trotted out the " he learned his lesson" talking point on schedule, a few days before Collins needed it.
The R's are organized in their messaging, and Collins is a fully culpable enabler.... and..... L. Alexander is worried about a culture war? Really !?
1
I wish Mitt Romney would drive to Canada with Susan Collins on the roof of the car.
6
Now that Mitt Romney is the new hero of the OP ED section I take it all is forgiven when it comes to the way he treated his four legged best friend Seamus.
You should have, in honor of his stand, omitted the dog on the roof of the car comment. Alas, you could not resist.
Gail,
Working Seamus into the last seven words of this column is nothing short of genius. I bow to you today, and I thank you for making this dark, terrible time just a little bit brighter.
1
I think I’m going to name my next kitten after Mitt. And I don’t lightly give names to critters.
I’m never buying another thing from LL Bean — including their ridiculous new preppy revival garbage recently reviewed in these same pages — if the voters of Maine fail to unseat Collins and send her to retirement in Kennebunkport! And you scoff that one voice doesn’t matter!
I tried to leave a comment on Romney's official website, last night and this morning.
I was thanking him.
It is shut down "due to maintenance".
You have to wonder what kind of traffic that site is getting......
Thank you for keeping your commitment to always mention the dog on the roof of the stain wagon when you talk about Mitt Romney.
@David Aronstein
"station wagon"
Lifelong liberals both, my wife turned to me the other day and asked, “What was it we didn’t like about Mitt Romney again?”
164
@Thilo Weissflog
Perhaps it's all his real policy positions on every imaginable subject.
... oh, and the 47% of Americans are moochers comment, from the richest dude in the room ...
Just because he was the only Republican to turn on the utterly corrupt President bone spurs doesn't make him any less Republican.
23
@Thilo Weissflog
His binders full of women
Putting his dog in a cage on top of his car
Outsourcing Americans jobs and downsizing by Bain Capital.
This list goes on and on.
21
@Thilo Weissflog “Binders full of women” and his retrograde positions on abortion rights, access to reproductive healthcare, LGBTQ rights, gender equality, support for paleo conservatives on SCOTUS, record of destruction during his corporate capitalist years at Bain? But at least his Mormon faith did some good work this time, in view of his understanding of an oath taken under God.
23
Senator Romney could really go down in history as a hero by running a third party campaign for President. He could simultaneously set a marker for where the GOP should go in the future once the Trump cult has ended, and give a voting option for honorable GOP voters. He is wealthy enough to self-fund a real campaign in swing states and his doing so would guarantee Trumps defeat. That would go down in history as the act of a hero defending the honor of our democracy.
1
Good for Romney! I never did agree with his policies and views but he showed that he does have a conscience and he doesn’t just wear his faith in God as an expedient to be re elected by conservatives, as so many”Christians” do.
He is the ONLY republican senators who can walk upright because he has a backbone!
1
Yes, Maine voters have noticed Collins's blind obedience to Mitch McConnell et al, while portraying herself as a courageous moderate willing to vote her conscience. She threw us under the bus on health care, following Republican party orders, and now this. Usually she "votes her conscience" only when her vote doesn't matter, as in the call for impeachment witnesses. A vote to convict wouldn't have mattered in this case either, but she apparently listened to her Republican handlers and tried to give Trump a unanimous Republican acquittal. Romney spoiled that plan (thank you Mitt). She was well aware of how her ridiculous justification would play with voters at home and spent bundles on television advertising during the impeachment trial. She even took a page from the president's playbook, exploiting a small child in her ads. Really, does anyone think an 8-year-old with diabetes thanks Susan Collins for the ridiculously priced insulin that keeps her alive? Her vote to acquit (when her vote didn't matter) makes those of us who want to see her gone all the more determined. Many of us can't wait to vote her out of office.
As was mentioned on PBS Newshour last night, the vote to refuse witnesses and evidence in Trump's "trial" was the important vote.
It was well known that trump would get cleared by the senate, and while that vote alone means that R. senators failed to live up to their oath in the trial, the first vote, refusing witnesses, means they failed their oath of office as well.
Shame on these poor shambling souls, reduced to lame talking points, and unable to look themselves in the mirror.
Vote them out in November! It's not just about trump, it's about the senate, maybe even more so.
1
No lessons have been learned. Trump learned nothing. Trump has been part of over 4,000 law suits. He already knew if you sue someone or let them take you to court, in most cases they give up when you use the court system to run out the clock. For some one like Trump who has no shame, Impeachment was just another court date. Collins, Alexander and others were given a great excuse, but know Trump and know he is unable to learn anything. McConnell already knew that it wouldn’t be hard to pressure frightened colleagues to fall into line. Republicans have long understood if you stick together, anything can be killed. As far as future generations will view Republicans and their tactics, they know the victors write history. And Fox News is opening a new channel to help write that story.
I recently watched the American Experience episode on Joseph McCarthy and was struck by how it’s deja vu all over again. I’m afraid Mitt’s moment will not rise to the level of ‘Sir, have you no sense of decency’.
1
Of course not.
Trump didn't do anything wrong enough to be impeached.
Democrats have made a mockery of impeachment of a president. I hope they (and all of us) learned something.
Of course Trump learned a lesson. That no matter what he does, he is absolutely untouchable.
3
Collins has fooled a lot of people in Maine by voting against Republicans when it doesn't matter. I think most if it's know this matters. I hope we let her know in November.
2
At some point, we have to come to terms with our Senate, The Greatest Non-Deliberative Body in the World.
It is no longer functioning as designed. It debates very little, puts few legislative proposals forward and passes almost no bills. It's increasingly becoming a useless appendage of our government.
It was still active with the impeachment fiasco, though, but not in the way the founders intended. The Senate is supposed take seriously it's over sight of the executive branch. Instead, it acted as just another arm of the executive branch, quashing any pursuit of justice against a president intent on abusing his power.
Instead of a vibrant, independent and coequal part of our federal system, the Senate is looking and acting more and more like a powerless parliament in a dictatorship.
3
"At least she respects you enough to pander." Best line!
The lesson trump learned: "Yes, I was right. I CAN do anything I want." We are being governed by a temper-tantrum wielding two-year old with no adult supervision. The senate has neutered itself, and the nation will suffer. trump, mcconnell and the republican senate must go.
4
Trump never learned anything in school, so it's not likely that this has taught him anything.
1
Mitt's just a deeply principled American.
Only kidding. It's transparent, cynical career manouvering.
Romney knows he'll now join Dubya and McCain in the hearts of liberals and will try and reap the maximum political, financial, and ego benefit.
The way the Dem establishment is going they might make him the Dem nominee in 2024.
3
Yeah, nice try at besmirching the only Republican senator who hasn’t been completely emasculated by Mr. Trump.
Oh, the people who “stroll” in here to demean and inflame get so tiresome.
Thank you for this article. It is lunacy to believe this impeached-by-the-House-for-all-time-unfit-for-office-president has learned a lesson and will not abuse his power again. Senator Mitt Romney is a true Hero in my book.
Mitt Romney: that was the most moving, compelling speech I've heard you give. Thank you.
1
If Romney really really really wanted to be President he would denounce the weak-spine Republicans today and join the Democrats. Tomorrow he could declare his run for the Democratic nomination.
He could run on his MA healthcare plan Obama copied from him. OK, this is not going to happen but he is setting himself up for the Republican nod in 2024.
As bad as I thought Romney’s presidency would have been in ‘12 he probably would not be as undignified as Trump. Plus his decision yesterday keeps his feet in both camps - Republican & Democrat - by splitting his vote between the two articles.
Susan Collins was absolutely correct, Trump did learn a lesson. The lesson he learned was that he can brazenly defy the constitution with no accountability. He can break the law (GAO said withholding the funds the way he did was against the law) with no accountability.
He, and we, learned the lesson that the GOP Senators are cowards, almost to a person. They can't stand the thought of being Tweeted about.
Sorry, Ben Franklin, we couldn't keep the Republic; the Republicans were too weak. Lesson learned.
Good column, but I think it's time to retire the "Romney drove to Canada with a dog on the roof of the car" trope. The good senator earned a lot of respect this week.
1
When Michael Bloomberg’s money gets distributed to Senatorial campaigns, Romney’s speech should be a political advertisement in every race and GOP Senator should be asked “Where were you when it came time to fulfill your oath to God?”
Romney certainly had his moment this week, and I applaud him sincerely for his courage and his bedrock faith. And I agree that this is the moment we should remember. I was deeply moved by his short speech, and by your praise.
We are prevented from indulging our urge to elevate him to sainthood based on this one very fine act by just mentioning the dog. Now that is my definition of courage.
I knew I could count on you to keep us all human.
The bigger question is whether American voters who put Trump over the finish line, taking a wild chance on him have learned a lesson.
If you take me as an example of someone who temporarily lost their mind, voting for the first time in my life for a Republican, from Wisconsin no less, I'd say yes we have learned our lesson!
After all, Trump only won by the hair of his chinny chin chin last time around. Fool me once....and that's enough!
2
The dog on the roof has morphed from a mild outrage to an amusing anecdote. One of the things I like about your column is that you always insert it when referring to Romney, no matter how incongruous. A little bit of humor is such a a relief in these dismaying times.
1
Mitt Romney is an profound example of courage and integrity. It is truly shameful that Senators Collins, Alexander and Merkowski did not act to support the Constitution and our fragile democracy. History, and perhaps the next election, will not look kindly upon them.
oh Gail i just knew you would get the dog in, and it makes me very happy!
That said, all kudos to Sen. Romney for standing on principle.
I'm ashamed to say that I've forgotten the dog's name.
I had to read this to see whether we'd see an appearance of the dog on the roof! A fitting touch, in the end. :)
Oh, Romney will be remembered for strapping his family's pet atop the station wagon for a little drive north.
Yes, he will.
That act -- I picture the dog whining and kicking as he's deposited atop the car, held down as the straps are applied, and wailing his way up the highway while the kid's cry in the back seats over his fate -- will be at least partly alleviated by his vote for conviction in the Senate.
But he'll never live it down. Modern Republican at his best....
1
" . . . while sitting like a nesting hen on piles of Barack Obama’s judicial nominations." Just wanted to note what a lovely phrasing that is. Sad but true.
Trump is emboldened, he will stop at nothing to retain power. It doesn't help the situation when this paper, seemingly with zero self-awareness, writes massive headlines like "Resounding Victory for Trump".
The media really needs to stop referring to Susan Collins Kavanaugh as a moderate. She is a coward and a wholly owned tool of the Trump party. The audacity of saying DJT has “learned from this case” and that he will be “much more cautious in the future” is a cynical slap in the face to all Americans. It reveals how little she thinks of her constituency, and the public at large, to make such statements and think they would be taken seriously. Shame on her!
1
Oh, Gail. I hope you never let go of Romney's dog on the car roof story!
And this Mainer is completely disgusted with Susan Collins. I've always voted for her in the past, but never again. Her pretense that Trump learned anything, other than maybe how to cheat less openly next time, WAS the most ridiculous and galling moment of this trial, which is quite an accomplishment.
I think you have to go with McConnell as the worst. The others are hacks. He's got the power.
Get over it.
Trump is evil in exactly the same way the Clinton's were/are.
Nothing new here...except, so far, he's started far less murderous wars.
Omigod. The dog on the car roof! That was boffo: a brilliant buildup to a delayed squelch.
2
Oh, we've noticed, rest assured.
As any parent knows, if you don’t discipline a child and that child never hears the word NO, they will do whatever they want, period. This Pinocchio president will continue to do whatever he wants with the senate’s stamp of approval
No one thinks that.
Here's something you might add to the list:
Newt Gingrich on his high horse this evening about Pelosi tearing up the paper with Trump's "manifesto" as she called it. He suggested she be censured, since back when HE was House Speaker, people behaved better, grabble, grabble.
Except when Mr.Newtie was finger-wagging at Bill Clinton and his affair by day, he was hypocritically tearing up real sheets with his new girlfriend, not wife #2, by night.
So yeah, maybe Newt and Nancy and get their censures together- we forgot yours and several other cheaters at that time, Mr. House Speaker.
1
Trying to corrupt a weak country fighting against Russia and internal corruption for Trump's own personal and political gain may just be the worst thing an American President has ever done. What has Susan Collins learned-that-cowardice works in Maine. Hasn't a life of hypocrisy disgusted even her?
Gail,
Let's say there never was such a thing as a dog strapped to the roof of Mitt Romney's car. Once and for all !
All I looked for was how you would bring up the dog !
"Bye bye Susan" is getting to be a popular sticker in Maine these days...
Gail . Thank you for you service to this country.
Let's look at the difference between Lindsey Graham and Susan Collins. We've all seen Lindsey slither from one corner of the Republican political spectrum to the other. Trump gave out Graham's phone number during the campaign to strike at him, for heaven's sake! That's pretty hardcore by most standards. And yet now, to be the gangster's lap dog, he cowers like the hack politician he is. Everyone sees it and everyone knows it. Then you have Susan Collins. She said she voted for Kavanaugh because he "gave her an assurance that he'd respect the precedent of Roe v. Wade. "Gave her his assurance". Now she says that yes, the president did something bad. Very bad. But everyone is naughty sometimes. She "hopes he's learned his lesson". That's her hokey logic for her cowardice. Now with Graham you know what you have. His loyalty ONLY to himself is clear. Collins, on the other hands, PRETENDS TO FEIGN MORALITY. She protests and then submits. Her justifications are so ludicrous as to be beyond credulity. She's worse than Graham because she pretends vehemently to care and then stabs those that DO care in the back. With Graham you don't ever turn your back. With her, it's all a hoax. The good people of Maine deserve so much better! New Englanders are smart and sensible people, by nature. They WILL get rid of Collins in November, I'm convinced of it. Prove me right, Mainers! You know she needs to GO! Let her run in South Carolina, not Maine!
1
Let's look at the difference between Lindsey Graham and Susan Collins. We've all seen Lindsey slither from one corner of the Republican political spectrum to the other. Trump gave out Graham's phone number during the campaign to strike at him, for heaven's sake! That's pretty hardcore by most standards. And yet now, to be the gangster's lap dog, he cowers like the hack politician he is. Everyone sees it and everyone knows it. Then you have Susan Collins. She said she voted for Kavanaugh because he "gave her an assurance that he'd respect the precedent of Roe v. Wade. "Gave her his assurance". Now she says that yes, the president did something bad. Very bad. But everyone is naughty sometimes. She "hopes he's learned his lesson". That's her hokey logic for her cowardice. Now with Graham you know what you have. His loyalty ONLY to himself is clear. Collins, on the other hands, PRETENDS TO FEIGN MORALITY. She protests and then submits. Her justifications are so ludicrous as to be beyond credulity. She's worse than Graham because she pretends vehemently to care and then stabs those that DO care in the back. With Graham you don't ever turn your back. With her, it's all a hoax. The good people of Maine deserve so much better! New Englanders are smart and sensible people, by nature. They WILL get rid of Collins in November, I'm convinced of it. Prove me right, Mainers! You know she needs to GO! Let her run in South Carolina, not Maine!
Susan Collins “teachable moment” argument exhibits ingenuity but is her usual attempt at camouflaging repeated supine acquiescence to GOP orders.
1
What the impeachment trial showed me is that Susan Collins has absolutely mastered the shifty art of talking out of both sides her mouth.
In her own pitiful way, she is a genius.
Learn? What does a Man-God need learn? He strides the Land -- He lifts the Flaming Sword. TrumpNation kneels -- a new Messiah to adore. And, there is blood on the tongue -- blood on the hand. Heart of America.
#1, Gail Collins is a national treasure
#2, Mitt Romney's poignant, thoughtful speech blew me outta the water. #MuchRespect to a man i thought little of, prior to these last two weeks.
The 'Forever Trumpers' reasoning doesn't withstand a basic logic 'stress test'. If what he did is not criminal, then why not allow him to openly recruit/bribe foreign governments so we can witness the shakedown day in and day out?
And, then let us determine if this action is legal.
Oh nevermind, we have. It's absurd!
I'm jealous and amazed that these lawyers make millions when a quacamole dip could easily see that it's criminal.
(I can easily imagine a casual political observer weighing the evidence and being completely befuddled as how the heck could anyone possibly mount a defense? But hey, they haven't met Mitch and his minions.)
The “Hahahaha” is one-the-money Gail. Although I think it should not be just four syllables. More like 10 given how funny this is.
Trump and learning?
Isn’t that like McConnell and Morals?
I guess the right honorable lady who said this also believes denial is a river in Egypt.
First the dog, then the vote to convict.
It has come to this: One man stands up for his country and its laws, and he is correctly praised, while everyone else in his party runs and hides from the truth. I no longer recognize the country in whose military I served. Shame and responsibility are in short supply.
Whenever I look at Mitt Romney I ask myself why am I poor? If this fool can make so much money, what am I doing wrong?
Please, spare us the impossible. Trump has no capacity to learn. It is not in his DNA. Susan Collins is a phony trying to present herself as a moderate. She is a fraud. She was spineless on impeachment just as she was on the critical ACA vote that was about to take away health care for millions of Americans. It's past time to retire Susan Collins .
The closing paragraph is brilliant
I can't stomach this stuff but Gail is always a delight to read. She has become my only source when it comes to Trump.
I was holding my breath, waiting to see how that dog would make it in the column; one reason I was disappointed that Romney wasn't running again was I would miss that dog.
It's time at last to haul Seamus down from Mitt's station wagon roof. With one conscience-driven vote, all is forgiven Senator Romney. Seamus can come home now.
As for the most precious moments of blind sanctimonious hypocrisy, my vote -- again -- can go to none other than Susan Collins who raises naïve incredulity to an art form.
She tried to have us believe that Bret Kavanaugh will protect a woman's control over her own body's destiny, and now she tells us that, after 70 unbroken years of grift, DJT has "learned the lessons" of Human Decency 101.
Surely the tooth fairy flutters around Susan Collins' pillow somewhere nearby.
Thank you, Ms. Collins, for saving your best comment for last.
1
Re Collins’ statement: I don’t know which one is worse — frank naïveté or faked/feigned naïveté! Neither flaws deserve senatorial re-election.
I'd like to hear Susan Collin's response to Trump's remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast this morning. Right, he's learned alot.
Oh, Gail, but Trump HAS learned a lesson... that he can get away with whatever he wants.
1
I firmly believe that history will judge yesterday as Mitt Romney's finest hour.
He learned a lesson alright - he learned he can pretty much get away with anything. Now the retaliation and full-on, right out in the open corruption begins. Today he hit New York by freezing any Global Entry type program enrollment for New Yorkers. He claims it’s because of immigration, but I’m not buying it. It’s because Nadler is from New York. Next he’ll nail California because that’s Pelosi and Schiff’s turf. Yesterday lapdog William Barr announced that no investigations into campaign irregularities can take place without his personal sign-off - which means, of course, that only investigations into Democrats will take place, and none into Republicans. We are now living in a post-apocalyptic world. There’s only one fix and it comes this November. Do not just sit home. Vote and #VoteBlueNoMatterWho.
1
When first I heard that Mr Romney had indeed retained his spine, my first thought was "I wonder if this means Ms Collins will take a pledge never to mention his dog again?" I'm glad to see it didn't.
It can be sad when the obvious right thing to do must be viewed as an heroic act. But, still, good for Mr Romney.
So Gail - yes it is amazing that you can still write humor in these most bizarre of times. We all need to get very serious and realize he is correct and he will get four more years. That is unless the God's intervene to save mankind. But unfortunately, they are even likely to find us not worth saving.
Has GC nailed Susan Collins or what?
Collins has been spineless and counter-productive since her stupid decision, in exchange for her vote, to gut Obama's economic stimulus that could have created many thousands of good jobs in the construction industry during the Bush/GOP "Great Recession". Those jobs were badly needed and could have resulted in better, more sustainable schools and public buildings that paid dividends for decades. But No. One thing the Republicans clearly hate is effective action to benefit the working class, even in a time of national crisis.
1
Yes it was a con job. But a masterful one at that. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. Four years ago no one reading this ever thought in a billion years Trump was serious about running for President. And even if he was he could never be nominated. Never. And even if he was nominated well there was no way he wins. No way. Ok, he won but the Mueller investigation will end his Presidency. Right? Shoot Mueller dropped the ball but this will all come crashing down when we impeach. We promise! Oh my God Trump is starting World War 3! Wait scratch that Iran wants to deescalate. Starting to see a trend here? Against all odds Trump always defies expectations. What Trump's adversaries will never be able to grasp is that he's is a political genius. I don't use that word lightly. Nothing else explains his uncanny ability to rebear himself like the mythical Phoenix in crisis after crisis emerging stronger than before. The Dems can rage & shout about Ukraine til there's ice on the equator. It won't change the mind of one person who voted for Trump. The more you complain the more he will rub it in your face. What progressives & their co-dependents will never be able to see is that Trump supporters revel in the non-stop drama, are galvanized when he punches back, are delighted when he spits in your face. Far from being embarrassed by his antics, they're thrilled by it & in their heart of hearts can't get enough of it. He's their champion, he's their hero. He may win in 2020.
Mitt Romney a hero? It could only have happened in Donald Trump's upside-down world.
I'm a big fan of Gail's, but ending with the reference of a dog on the roof of a car...better off not said. No one would have noticed if Collins hadn't made her closing clincher all about her.
Trump taught a lesson: crime pays.
All this has given me greater sympathy for decent Germans at the demise of the Weimar era, their disunity and feckless pettiness in the face of an impending Nazi takeover. Sitting in a classroom years ago I recall thinking that their choice was so simple and clear. One could not imagine Americans being so weak and cowardly at such a critical time.
Now that certainty is less clear. In near perfect lockstep, the Republican Party has shown us the bland face of fear, cowardice and opportunism. Good respectable souls meekly falling into line, some grumbling quietly about the futility of resistance but most expressing bright-eyed enthusiasm over the glorious days lying ahead. Yes, it can happen here.
Another musing is that the fanatical true believers have a certain initial structural advantage over ordinary folk. To create and promote a counterfactual narrative requires an emotional and intellectual commitment that energizes the believers. Ordinary folk take in the world on a more passive basis. No exceptional creative effort is required to simply report the raw facts of daily existence.
On first encounter with a mythic counter-narrative, one is apt to be be taken aback by the patent unreality of it. Can this really be what is meant? Surely there is a mistake. The initial disconnect engenders a cautious response.
We are struggling daily to get our bearings in this brave new fictitious world. Let's hope we succeed in telling the truth in a clear and compelling way.
1
Yeah, Good for Romney. I agree. But I cannot forgive him putting the dog on the roof of the car or walking a blind Teacher while in HS into a closet instead of guiding him out the door, or tormenting a gay classmate. His father was the governor and he should have had some moral guidance from the LDS church even then.
1
Wonderful Column Thank you Gail..You captured everything just right … I am not a big fan of Romney but THIS one he deserves ...He stood up...
Susan Collins, who has a greater potential to learn from a mistake? A sack of hammers or Donald Trump. My bet is the sack of hammers, yours is Trump. I do hope that you get voted out of office this year.
1
As for "Pick the worst moment of the Senate impeachment hearings"?
Oh Lordy, I'm no King Solomon. But Gail, thankfully you made it a choice among 3, and I pick the same one you did - Susan Collin's. Why? I guess cause it's the closest to being suicidal. Really, thinking that Trump might learn from this impeachment and acquittal is like begging to be a Christian at the Roman Coliseum.
Seamus would be proud.
Trump has learned that anything goes.
Senator Collins is either a knave who expects us to believe what she knows is patently false, or a fool who actually believes Trump will improve. In any case she demonstrates that she is not worthy of reelection.
McConnell denouncing partisanship in the impeachment was not only typical of McConnell but typical of the entire GOP/POT culture of it being different. when they do it but bad, terrible, criminal, immoral, ungodly...when Dems do it. McConnell has already said he'll seat a SC justice in an opening occurs in an election year with Trump as president, an about-face from his Merrick Garland stance. Republicans do 180s with total impunity, and the reason is because its base also is completely unprincipled and trained to mindlessly be soldiers for the party, not for the country and constitution. Susan Collins's true colors are now blinking neon. These Republicans either think/know their base is dumb as mud to buy their nonsense, or they know they'll back it even knowing it's nonsense. The right wing is now rabid.
Why do you feel the need to insult garter snakes?
"Perhaps, people of Maine, you haven’t noticed that your senator’s political independence tends to work best when the matter at hand is meaningless."
Ah, yes. As someone "from" Maine, I'm going to email a link to this excellent article to everyone I know who is still "in" Maine. Maybe in my own small way, I can help get Susan OUT in the Pinetree State.
Of course, we here in the Sunshine State have plenty to say grace over in our feckless duo of Rick Scott and Marco Rubio. Scott is a Trump wanna-be, absolutely cut from the same cloth, so no one expected him to do anything more than rapturously vote to acquit. Rubio, on the other hand, is a beaten cur, sniffing for crumbs under the table, eager to lick the hand that has insulted him over and over and over. What a pair!
I'm glad I'm not raising children right now: the rise and continued hold on power that Trump enjoys would be impossible to explain and would be completely opposed to what I would be attempting to teach my children about honor, kindness, and fair play...all the basic Judeo-Christian principles have been cast at naught.
It's 1933 all over again, but not in Germany...it's happening right here in America. Right here. In Maine. In Florida. Right here. Right now.
2
Oh, thank you, Gail! It just would not have been a complete column without the reference to Romney driving to Canada with a dog on the roof of the car. Touche!
Funny how Trump and 99% of his party hypocritically put their party above their country while Romney, all by his lonely self, put himself above his party for the greater good of his country and its future. Courage versus cowardice reflects a rare breed of individual in this day and age. Unfortunately, his colleagues and their insecure, narcissist, corrupt leader will do everything in their power to shame, smear and destroy.
Funny also how history will forever leave an asterisk by Trump's name for becoming an IMPOTUS, while Romney's asterisk will forever be one that represents stand up and alone for his principles.
Mitt Romney! who knew?
a rare yet deeply moving
moment which will be
remembered long after
the faceless Republican
hacks who pandered to
Trump are forgotten.
as for Susan Collins, I
lost all respect for her
after her her dog and
pony show in the Bret
Kavanaugh debacle.
she will be nothing more
than a sad footnote in
the sordid history of this
corrupt administration
1
Indeed, Mitt shall be remembered for standing firm on his convictions, given that Trump's criminality became incontrovertible. The rest of the republican bunch will, undoubtedly 'hate his guts', given he has become a thorn in their rotten soul-less behind, a constant reminder of their cowardice and hypocrisy...and a betrayal of their oath to uphold the rule of law, the constitution and the truth. Trump shall remain the most corrupt vulgar frog occupying the Oval Office, thanks to an anti-democratic Electoral College (and Putin's assistance)...while having lost the popular vote by a large margin. All this is a reminder of how primitive we remain, so loyal towards our tribe...while vicious towards 'the other'.
While there are plenty of feckless and despicable Republicans in government to go around, Susan Collins and her pretend naivety make her one of the most annoying. Hopefully the voters in Maine see through her and send her into retirement!
Have to agree with Gail. Susan Collins wins the prize for the most insane/inane comments about her vote for acquittal. Now it is time to remove her from office. Listen up Maine voters: Kavanaugh and Acquittal = losing in 2020.
Susan Collins thinking Trump will learn from this is as ridiculous as the continued hope that a Susan Collins will take a principled stand.
And now the choruses of 'Just wait until November 2020! We will vote them out!!!
I have absolutely zero, zilch, nada faith or hope or expectation that my fellow Americans will rise to the challenge. Or be allowed to now that the Trump GOP can act with complete confidence and make sure THEY control who can and can not vote. Let the purges begin.
Our democracy is not dying in darkness. It is being assaulted daily in the full sunshine. The Iowa computer glitch was a terrible optic of a party unable to fire a shot in a circular firing squad. Confidence is low to say the least.
Money makes America and Wall Street is happy so why would anybody care about anything else? Dear Mitt gave too little, too late IMO. It was a vote that was calculated and deemed to have little blowback. The Trump GOP hate will go away and why would he care? He has his job for 5 more years.
Mitt's words of conscience went nowhere. The Trump GOP could have cared less unless revenge is considered for a feel good bonus.
Mr. Toad Trump's wild ride is about to get supersonic with complete abandon and the chaos will grow exponentially. And there is no one left to pull the brakes.
Mitt Romney had his John McCain moment today- well done Senator.
Doug Jones- another patriot and not afraid to do the right thing.
For Susan Collins, Lamar Alexander and Lisa Murkowski, they should be ashamed of themselves, and they should admit that they are cowards and are cowed by DJT and Mitch McConnell. And please don’t try to con me and tell me otherwise.
@Maureen R "Doug Jones- another patriot and not afraid to do the right thing."
When Doug Jones is enjoying his out of office time, someone should ask him, "Who do you think should replace RBG?"
The long should not be that elusive.
Narcissus fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water. The GOP fell in love with their own image reflected in a racist, tax dodging demagogue out to secure corporate profitability by despoiling our environment, successfully marginalizing the US Constitution, and degrading women.
1
Yes, Trump "learned a lesson" at the feet of his father and Roy Cohn: never - repeat NEVER - admit you're wrong, and punish anyone who doesn't back you 100%.
I'd say he earned an A+ for his effort.
As for the Republicans who enable him, they should all be impeached. Failing that, they should each get a chapter in the new book "Profiles in Cowardice".
He learned that the lesson he's been taught all his life is true - he can do anything he wants, and weasel out accountability.
I congratulate Ms. Collins. and thank her for bringing back the dog on the roof of the car.
"He’s going to get a lot of grief from his Republican supporters."
"Grief" is an understatement; on YouTube, where Mitt's speech was posted, he was called everything but a Christian. They're calling him a traitor, a RINO, a closet liberal, and are outraged at him, his family, and his religion; and a lot of them are saying "I can't believe I voted for this guy." And these are his former supporters!
Now after it's too late, I could have forgiven Mitt for going with his gang; they don't tolerate dissent or criticism of their great leader. The downside of being ethical is just too great here; the anger is just too hot to handle. He has a family to consider. The rule apparently is that you support Trump no matter what, but Mitt went ahead anyway all alone. I'm impressed.
Boy, the rage out there is real. Thanks, FOX, Rush, Sean, Newt, Mitch, and Donald for making a bad situation very much worse.
Our politics are now so hair-trigger sensitive, maybe it's better to stop discussing them so much and just vote quietly. (I would never put up a sign in my Florida yard supporting a Democrat; I'm not Mitt Romney. Why ask for trouble?)
117
@Jim Muncy Sadly, this is a description which is becoming universal. This is especially true for anyone of a progressive outlook. My own (UK) MP was murdered by a Right-wing fanatic, and death threats are commonplace to many (nearly always) on our Left, and especially women.
25
@Jim Muncy I think you're right in your assessment of the risk Romney took and in the caution you think advisable in your own political life. I said to a friend this morning that, if the re-election campaign succeeds, I will be a great deal more cautious about expressing my political opinions anywhere, especially the Internet. I am already pulling back a bit. I am the age of Clinton, Warren, Trump, and have been pretty fearlessly political most of my life. For nearly three years I have been anxious. Today I am afraid. I don't like the feeling, but I don't think it is unjustified.
33
@oldteacher
Here I stand. I can do no other. God help us.
Martin Luther. The Diet of Worms
12
Ms.Collins is wrong. Trump HAS learned a very valuable lesson. He can do ANYTHING and this sycophantic Republican Senate will not only let him get away with it, but praise him for the most extreme acts of illegality. Where does their servitude end? Treason? Been there done that. Rape? Ditto Murder? Trump himself said he could do that and not lose support.
So what's left?
Perhaps the citizens of Alaska may find that he will give them back to Russia. Who will stop him? Answer: No one.
Maine should lace up it's legendary Maine made L.L. Bean boot and give it to Susan Collins, she is an embarrassment. If she thinks Trump has learned his lesson she truly is naive.
Sen. Romney made Seamus — and the rest of us — proud today.
Yep, Trump is unleashed. And he thinks he is Chosen, that he can do no wrong now. America is under his thumb (with apologies to the Rolling Stones).
I perceive, though, that he is, literally, terminally careless.
And that will be his, and the Trumplicans, downfall.
It is like a teenager who survives a serious calamity unharmed, thinking he can survive the next by not paying attention to it because that worked the last time. That he is above harm as Trump now feels he is above the law. We all know how that will turn out. Luck will eventually end. It always does.
So Trump will do something that will seriously and negatively affect his supporters in Congress and the street. He won't be able to undo it in time. They will turn against him.
Unfortunately, like the 2008 Depression, it will be too late.
And this time, like the hot skier who is out of bounds, now caught in an avalanche, there may be no escape.
The greatest deliberate body in the world? I think not.
I am enjoying reading columnists here at the Times—employees and One timers as well, doing the equivalent of Pelosi tearing up Trump’s speech. A lot of anger, bitterness and hurt feelings. It bodes well for the 2020 election because the Democrats and their media friends still don’t get it.
Trump's m.o., well known to enablers of his party like Senator Collins, is to double down on his lies or misdeeds, as if it's business as usual. Accused on Russia? Reach out to China, and more infamously Ukraine.
Looking forward to the translation of Putin's unlikely autobiography, which would detail on what he's got on this doofus, and worse, the gullibility of Congress and the red states.
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Trump learned a lesson all right. Just not the one Susan Collins meant.
I knew you'd get there! Thanks!
Whew! I thought you'd forgotten about the dog.
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Remember one thing: Mitt Romney is a Republican! The big question is, why is he still a Republican?
Oh sure he learned something: There is absolutely nothing he won't get away with!
Re: Susan Collins: "Perhaps, people of Maine, you haven’t noticed that your senator’s political independence tends to work best when the matter at hand is meaningless. " I love you, Gail, but are you kidding? Oh, yeah, we have noticed.
Perhaps Diogenes has finally found an honest man among the Republicans. At long last.
Aw, c'mon, Gail. Mitch's Millions for Collins reelection don't come for free, after all.
But it's not bribery, right?
Hopefully the good people of Maine will teach Susan Collins a lesson in November.
Who would have thought Susan Collins was such a fool as to suggest president Big Mack received a good lesson from his bad habits? Big Mack just doubled down on his corruptive policies. Trump feels that he has an open season on the democracy and laws defining our country. Trump will work diligently to re-enforce his crooked tendencies. He will create an even stronger autocracy.
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Gail,
I love that to this day you have not given up on the rooftop dog. What an image!
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Gail, I really hope you’ll now let Mitt off the hook for the dog thing. Today he earned it.
A Gail Collins column on Romney without a reference to Seamus would be like a Hirschfeld cartoon without "Nina"s. It's always fun to see where it turns up.
Seamus would be proud!
And yes, Justice Kavanaugh will not overrule Roe v. Wade.
I first apologize, but this observation needs somebody’s comment
Look at that neat color map of Iowa, and tell me about the demographics of the county just south of Cedar Rapids
They are the only county Liz Warren apparently won
I betcha there are plenty of college profs and school teachers residing there
Thank you Gail for saving the best for last!
Any more good jokes Susan?
I really wonder who someone like Susan Collins could be elected as a senator. Surely there are other people in Maine who are savvier — like *everyone else*.
Poor Romney. Even when he does something really great, and brave, as he did today, along come the nitpickers and the old dog jokes. You folks giving him grudging praise, or none at all, should care to remember the power and viciousness of the enemies he made today. Would you, faced with such a crowd of criminals, be so sturdy?
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@Michael Judge
Perhaps he should of discerned the evil of the Republicans much sooner.
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@Michael Judge I agree. I appreciate Romney, and a brave deed deserves unqualified applause, especially in these troubled times.
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@Michael Judge It's easy to applaud Romney's vote and still laugh at (and be horrified by) the dog on the roof.
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Trump has learned a lesson, he has learned he can do whatever he wants, the spineless Republicans will have his back no matter what he does.
If you think he will not take advantage of this situation, you are very naive. We are truly in perilous times.
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The future holds possible terror for me of what will happen to our country but today I just feel anger that the Senate GOP lied when taking their oaths of office & again when vowing to uphold their responsibilities during the hearings.
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Sue Collins's act is getting old but she keeps a straight face. It is beyond cynicism.
Mitt Romney's calculus is simple. He has a safe seat in Utah. Trump can't touch him there. So this is a payback to the humiliation he suffered when he got roped into the dining with Trump thinking he could get the SoS gig only to get humiliated so thoroughly.
There is nothing new.
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That bit about the dog on the roof of the car?
Now, THAT was a perfect call!
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Well Gail, Susan Collins is right.
He’s learned that he probably can shoot someone on 5th Avenue and get away with it, and that he can pretty much get away with anything he wants.
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"Nothing Mitch hates more than failure to be politically evenhanded. It’s probably one of the things he mulled frequently while sitting like a nesting hen on piles of Barack Obama’s judicial nominations."
Nesting hens everywhere are protesting (and considering a class action lawsuit) this odious, libelous, and derogatory comparison.
A sad day. And a sad-looking future looming for the grandkids. They deserve better.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom to loudmouth Trump-supporter Rush Limbaugh? What has he ever done to deserve this honor? Just look at the list of all the truly eminent past recipients! Because Limbaugh is sick? Many of us are ill, and Trump is intent on taking away our health care. Permanently.
Rush Limbaugh? At the State of the Union? On national TV?
A national disgrace.
For all the world to see.
Ah, in the spirit of this opinion piece, in the scourge of his plague, God has cast his judgement upon Mr. Limbaugh, and may we hope be sending a warning to the rest of the fake news cast.
I hope Mitt understands that Trump has probably already established a task force to drain every federal nickel out of Utah, including those luscious military establishments.
Luckily Trump does not have the wits to carry it off.
Though there's little that Sen. Romney and I would agree on, I'm grateful that's he taken a stand, and the attempts by Trump's merry band of sycophants to now marginalize him are beyond pathetic and childish. They give the term "sellout" new meaning.
More than that, his vote shows the cravenness and cowardice of Sen. Collins and her ilk who have the gall to insult our collective intelligence with their bland assurances that Trump has learned his "lesson" when they know as well as the rest of us that he has not and never will. They are an embarrassment to the Senate and do not deserve the privilege of public office. Let's hope they pay for their betrayal of the oath they swore to uphold at the ballot box.
I don't believe Romney "lusted" after a cabinet post.
This was back in the early days of our rolling disaster, when reasonable people still spoke of surrounding Trump with grown-ups. Romney gave a polite hearing to the idea that he might serve his country by being one of them. The nature of that inquiry revealed itself in how quickly he broke it off.
This may be one of those cases in which comedy contained more truth than usual:
https://youtu.be/JUWSLlz0Fdo?t=197
Collins is a disgrace as a politician.
Unlike most republican senators.. Susan Collins constantly talks out of both sides of her mouth so as to appear to be one of the last remaining moderates in her party ... yet will consistently just vote as McConnell tells her to. At least most of the other republican senators.. you know where they stand. Susan Collins' only real skill is a convincing performance of dancing on quicksand while the people of Maine and the nation as a whole sink and suffer under the Trump administration.
If the people of Maine re-elect Susan Collins, it is a referendum on the people of Maine. It means Maine has fully gone to the dark side of the republican party.
The only thing Trump learned was that he could get away with anything because the GOP is too cowardly to stand up to him.
For me, the lowest moment of very low months and years was Mitch denouncing partisanship. Susan Collins is a precious little dear, an innocent lamb who actually seems to believe what she says. (Let's pray the good citizens of Maine are in touch with reality.)
McConnell is a dangerous and ferocious lion. He is as barbaric as Donald Trump but is able to pull up a veneer of hypocrisy as needed.
I can see McConnell patting Collins on the head in approval as she gazes admiringly at his veneer.
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Did Trump learn anything? Yes - that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose supporters in the Senate.
Mr Romney, like all of us, was taught to be honest, but unlike his fellow Republican Senators he put his money where his mouth is.
President Trump did learn a lesson. He learned that he can do whatever he wants, as he has the support of spineless Republican Senators and morally compromised, intellectually vacuous followers. I hope he doesn’t decide he wants to be president for life with unlimited powers, like his authoritarian idols.
I came seeking the dog on the roof of the car and wasn't disappointed.
Gail, thanks for reminding me of the dog. Need all the laughs I can get.
What lesson was trump supposed to learn exactly?... the result of the impeachment pretty much backs what he’s been saying about it the whole time. He was acquitted as in not guilty?... this was not a loss for trump. It was a win. The only lesson he could or should possibly learn is to continue doing what he’s doing. He WON. Why would he change what he’s doing after a victory. What planet are you people from
Ever seen eliphants moving in a row? They hook up with their trunks to the tail of the one ahead. Thus no one dare let go the grip except the one at the end which has the best opportunity, so to speak.
Once during the Obama's 4 + 4 years I suggested that the Republican Party should change the G.O.P. to N.O.P. as they said a loud No to all the president's proposals.
"Some dark minds believe that Collins’s moment of independence came only because McConnell knew he had enough votes to kill the proposal"
Once McConnell squashed Lamar Alexander from voting for witnesses, he gave Collins's the OK. The pathetic thing about Alexander, is he probably didn't get anything in return from McConnell, only a disgusted smirk when he asked for one.
The first USA dictator. Always look on the bright side of life: there's no more need for elections. Money saved can be used to bring down the deficit, or maybe give trump and his family a raise or two.
Every time with the dog on the roof of his car, Gail!
Anyway it's hard for me to find anything funny about this. The character of Trump couldn't be any worse, yet many millions cheer him on. And of course millions more are indifferent. We live in an immoral country where integrity means nothing.
"You can run but you can't hide" as the saying goes. Collins ran from the truth about Kavanaugh and now Trump. She fiddles with half baked excuses but in her heart, vain as it may be, she is just another Republican Trumpet. She hides behind her statement of being a pro-choice Republican, yet voted in favor of placing an anti-choice Judge on the Supreme Court for life. It is not a matter of "if", but "when" SCOTUS will declare Roe V Wade as unconstitutional.
It is as important or perhaps even more important to put the Senate into the hands of the Democrats. We have witnessed the wholesale takeover of the judiciary by the Federalist Society, have stood by while the State Department has be hollowed out of true diplomats, and watched the Department of Justice become a taxpayer funded law firm in which the head partner is Donald Trump.
These are the institutions which have provided America with the decency and moral courage we have shown to the rest of the world. We stand a very good chance of losing what took 240 years to build.
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Gail, I'm not sure that whole 'dog on the roof' thing ever happened. I think it might have been a Chevy Chase movie. Or was that Grandma's corpse on the roof... it's been a while since I saw that movie.
Romney stood up when it counted, and stood for his values, his integrity, and his conscience. Romney supported the Constitution and the country, when political convenience, personal expediency, and craven political calculation put all the other Republican Senators in shameful company of each other.
Of course, Republican's don't 'do' shame... and Trump is already crowing about his 'complete vindication' and Trump and his sycophants are attacking Romney. One day those Republican Senators will wake up to what they have done. I hope that day isn't too late for our democracy and our republic.
Susan Collins: Time to retire. No need for spineless chickens roosting in the Senate anymore. Get out while the getting is good. ‘Nuf said.
Brava, Gail. Reading all the way through your column I couldn't imagine how you could introduce Seamus - but you came through as always.
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Who would have known Mitt had it in him.
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This moment in history exposed the dirty truth that this President is above the law. What must those sitting in prisons across this nation convicted of lesser white collar crimes think?
Gail you had my rapt attention about typical Republican mendacity and Mitt's virtues of Courage ... I didn't see the 'dog on roof' coming. Great close!
Nicely done. Glad you remembered the dog!
If Susan Collins attended the National Prayer Breakfast today, she saw first hand that Trump learned nothing and has zero remorse.
He completely lacks any moral core.
Vote my friends- our republic is under attack
There’s only two ways to fix it. Kentucky get rid of McConnell, America get rid of trump.
As soon as I saw the word "Romney" leading off the final 5 paragraphs, I told myself to just wait for it...
The final sentence vindicated me from my doubts.
Dear Gail,
Please tell Senator Romney that if he runs as a 3rd party candidate against the current occupant you will promise never to mention the dog ever again.
Utahans will always back Mitt and he knows it. His choice to vote against acquittal was honorable, but not heroic. His LDS voters will never leave him no matter what.
Gail, I have one question and one comment.
Question: I’m sure you’ve been asked this before but are you related to Senator Collins?
Comment: I though you were going to let the Seamus incident go in this column because of Senator Romney’s courage.
As a non-Mainer, the only option I have for registering outrage is to send campaign contributions to Sara Gideon, Collins’s Democratic opponent. I did so several weeks ago and intend to do so again. (And don’t forget Amy McGrath in Kentucky, Mark Kelly in Arizona,......).
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I'm from progressive from Maine, and Susan Collins is one of my senators. The author is right that the vast majority of the time Collins either votes with her party, or only bucks the party line when it doesn't matter. It's her timid, cautious way of being a Republican "moderate". Her vote for acquittal was a purely political act (she faces a tough reelection battle); but she's got a pulse and well knows that there is no way Trump has "learned a lesson". That vote is indefensible. However, in fairness I have to reluctantly admit that every once in while - rarely - she will surprise us by taking a more couragous stand. Her vote helped save the ACA from repeal in 2017. She is a reliably pro-choice voter; along with Lisa Murkowski, she has consistently voted against Republican attempts to de-fund Planned Parenthood and to criminalize abortion. And she voted against confirming deVos, necessitating a tie-breaker by Mike Pence.
Her occassional willingness to make the tough calls has provided intermittent reinforcement for some us...then there was Brett Cavanaugh. The last straw. I certainly plan to work to defeat her this year. However, I'll reluctantly give credit where it is due - in a hyper polarized time, she has shown an occassional willingness to cross the line when it mattered. Too few Republicans have shown that willingness.
Romney and Collins, what a dramatic contrast! Romney was a profile in courage, placing integrity above politics. Kavanaugh Collins shuffled the deck before, once again, going for politics over principle. Collins occupies Margaret Chase Smith’s Senate seat. Senator Smith was a profile in courage early speaking out against Joseph McCarthy. Collins is a profile in no courage.
I am really sick and tired of hearing Susan Collins's fake moderation. I hope the voters of Maine remember these votes and the one for Kavanaugh. Pandering indeed. I sincerely hope she is defeated in November and just goes away. Maybe Mitt Romney can put her on the roof of his car and drive to Canada.
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Gail. Let’s give the guy some credit for being the last honourable Republican standing and finally put the dog on the car roof thing to rest.
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Thanks, Gail, for your help in keeping Romney from the White House. Had this decent centrist won, we would have been spared Obama's forgettable second term followed by you-know-who. Great work.
For just a split second, I thought you might do a column with a (substantial) mention of Mitt without a reference to the dog on the roof! You made us wait till the end, but it was worth it! Thanks, Gail.
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Hi Gail-
Not sure I will be able to rid myself of the visual of Mitch as-mother-hen nesting in paper shreds of disappointed Obama judicial hopefuls. Good one!
Mitch with maternal skills? Maybe “Mommy dearest”.
I look forward to other comparisons from fellow readers. Kinda at a loss for words today. Glad to see you have some to share.
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Kept us in suspense until the very last sentence! When will she mention the dog on the roof of the car?
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Not even the time...! I agree. Mitt has earned our respect. Time to lay the ol’ Seamus trope to rest.
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Gail I have to disagree...history should NEVER forget what Romney did to the family dog.
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Thanks for the last line that gave me a good laugh!
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I lived in Maine over 2 decades this has ALWAYS been Susan Collins path..she is an incredible slippery politician who is all about herself..she is no Olympia Snow or Margaret Chase Smith. I’m not surprised how she voted I just wish I still lived in Maine to vote her out of office.
I’m glad her legacy will come to reflect the politician she has always been.
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According to Susan Collins, Trump has learned his lesson. It seems Susan hasn't. The remaining questions will be answered in November: 1. Has Maine learned its lesson with Susan? 2. Has America learned its lesson with Trump? We will find out.
2
Trump's methods of revenge should be interesting.
2
When John McCain died the number of principled Republicans in the Senate fell to zero. Now it's all the way up to one.
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The ink is hardly dry on this story when Trump cranks up his act at a "prayer breakfast". Some lesson, he hasn't leaned it over the last 50 years why would he learn it now.
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Re: Mitt Romney.
My R husband said, "It's easy to have principles when you know it won't matter anyway."
That's where we are politically in a nutshell.
I recommend a Recode Decode podcast interview with Ezra Klein from January 28, 2020. "Why We're Polarized"
Mitt Romney reminded us of what having a conscience is.
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" ... the Cook Political Report instantly downgraded his chances for re-election." The bottom line. Mr. Graham has said he is the business of getting reelected. The motivation for the acquittal votes was cynical careerism, pure and simple.
2
Really, Senator Collins has to go. It is time to make her accountable for packing Republicans on SCOTUS and for her pretense at being a moderate. Who is running against her? I'll send him or her money.
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It was Mitt's finest moment indeed.
Thanks for another great column, Gail, in these dark times.
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"He’s going to get a lot of grief from his Republican supporters. Still, remember that this is a wealthy 72-year-old with five years to go on his current Senate term."
Senator Romney, like his entire family, is a pillar of the Church of Latter day Saints. He can run for anything in Utah and win. He is proof against anything Trump and his henchmen can say or do.
4
Putin wanted to show democracy is a farce and a myth. Trump has shown this and the Republicans have enabled him. We have a government that is in a fight and no issues are going to be resolved, the health care, the infrastructure, the climate all ignored as the government wrestles with itself and corruption increases.
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Let's consider the broader issue of the fact that these GOP senators took an oath of office as trial jurors.
Taking an oath seriously is something we expect of thousands of Americans every day as they are sworn in to serve as jurors or as witnesses in court, and even as they have their affidavits notarized. Please let that sink in and reflect upon what that means.
The toxic president has lead all other GOP Senators into a truly horrifying scorn for their own words of honor. Only Senator Romney faced the threat and stared it down.
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I think the lesson is that the Senate will let him get away with whatever he wants as long as the Democrats lose.
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Thank you, Gail. I knew you'd do the right thing regarding Romney's past with his Irish Setter. It's time.
Romney and Manchin both did the right thing. If Romney hadn't that would have been it for him in history, and for Manchin too. Both Senators did the ethical and moral thing and voted to convict.
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You made me wait until the very last sentence, but it was worth it.
I have never thought that Romney was anywhere near as good as his father. His ability to flip-flop over the Affordable Care Act was only one area that he showed what a wimp he is. While I appreciate that he made the vote for conviction bi-partisan, I still wouldn't vote for him if I ever had the chance. The only reason he can get away with the vote is that he still has more than four years in office, is wealthy enough that he doesn't need the Repub funding, and is in a state that is staunchly RepubliCON. At his age, he is good for maybe one more election before he drives off into the sunset with Seamus on the roof.
2
"This is a Republic, if we can keep it."
Doesn't look too good at the moment.
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The Democratic Party of my parents and grandparents that championed the working American, patriotism, religious faith, and capitalism is gone forever.
Why would anyone even consider voting for a progressive Democrat any more? This Dem Party would never welcome John F. Kennedy, Harry Truman, or Thoman Jefferson to its meetings, and probably not even FDR because he was so religious.
2
Trump has learned a lesson: he can get away with anything. His next term is going to be a riot.
As for Mitt Romney's finest hour, it was an inconsequential protest vote. History is not going to remember it - or Romney, for that matter, nor what most of the media has been foaming about the last 4 years.
1
@r a - - - Bill Clinton was the same post-acquittal as he was before, and he'd been impeached on the basis of actual crimes on the books.
Despite what I hear from Burbank, he didn't even consider selling Alaska to the Elbonians.
So, why think Trump will be any different?
“I knew from the outset that being tasked with judging the president, the leader of my own party, would be the most difficult decision I have ever faced. I was not wrong,” he said emotionally.
Might also be worth noting that his niece is chair of the RNC. There's nothing that Trump can do to Mitt, but Ronna is another thing and I wouldn't be at all surprised to find her replaced.