Senator Mitt Romney, an outspoken
critic of Donald Trump's,
did not get a welcome reception
while he was speaking to Republican
voters at the Utah Republican State
convention.
Here's how it went down.
[NOISE] >> So
what do you think of President
Biden's first [INAUDIBLE]?
[NOISE] >> Thank you,
so what do you think about
President Biden's first 100 days?
[NOISE] >> Now, you know me as
the person who says what he thinks,
and I don't hide the fact that I
wasn't a fan of our last
president's character issues.
And I'm also no fan-
[NOISE]
>> Aren't you embarrassed?
[NOISE] >> And I'm also no fan of
the President's- >> Excuse me.
>> Yeah, sure.
>> My friends, this was
the moment I was talking about.
Please, thank you, show respect.
[APPLAUSE] >> Ugh, the moment where
he's like, aren't you embarrassed?
I'm like, Romney, hmm,
not the way to go about this.
But there's no winning.
Because he's still just as
delusional, as Mitch McConnell is,
about the state of
the Republican Party.
The state of the Republican Party
revolves around Donald Trump,
that is not going to change.
It's just not going to change,
this is what the party has become.
>> Yeah,
the mittens came off there.
And so look, two couple things.
Utah's supposed to be,
among the Republican states,
the most civil.
They've got this very friendly
Mormon attitude, plus they're
actually very pro-immigrant,
which is unusual for a red state.
Because Mormons immigrated to
Mexico and then back to America,
and have an immigrant culture,
because they came originally from
the east to the west.
So if anywhere that message of,
hey, look,
we don't like Trump's character,
but we love all his policies and
all that stuff would work,
it would be Utah.
And it's not even working there.
No, the party's gone.
They're not getting it.
Anna's right, Mitch McConnell
talking about Tim Scott is
the future of the Republican Party?
No, sounds like the past of
the Republican Party, >> Yes.
>> Hey, don't worry about racism,
and aren't corporations great?
No, no.
I mean, to the credit of
the Republicans, they think these
days that corporations are not that
great and corrupt politicians
are not that great.
To the discredit of Republican
voters, they think racism is not so
bad, democracy optional, right?
Now, to the credit of Mitt Romney,
it did take some courage.
Unless he was completely deluded
and though, no,
I'll single-handedly win back
the Republican Party.
It took some courage to say no in
the face of what was going to be
some degree of wrath,
and that turns out a tremendous
amount of wrath, for
voting to impeach Trump twice.
He did it, and he was very harsh in
his rhetoric against Trump.
And he and he said,
I'm not going to back down,
this is what I believe.
And I agree with you on
the policies, but
I don't agree with you on Trump.
And I'll give him credit for
that courage.
>> Well, that courage, I guess, for
lack of a better word,
continues in the next clip.
Let's take a look at that,
and then we'll talk about
the GOP attempting to censure him.
>> So yeah, I understand that I
have a few folks that don't like me
terribly much,
and I am sorry about that.
But I expressed my mind as I
believe is right, and I follow my
conscience as I believe is right.
I'm not a fan of the current
president's policies.
In his inauguration speech,
you probably heard it,
he promised bipartisanship.
And I guess by bipartisanship,
he means the Democratic Party on
one side and
the socialists on the other.
And then this week he correctly
said that China poses
an existential threat to our
democracy.
And his answer to that is
apparentlyfree two years of free
3K.
I like Joe Biden,
he's a nice person.
I think he has good intentions, but
I think- [NOISE] >> But at the same
time- >> Okay, so I want to just
quickly mention that that video
demonstrated that Senator Romney is
having a difficult time figuring
out what his own political ideology
and branding should be.
Because In that video,
clearly he's trying to kind of
speak out against some of the more
progressive policy proposals coming
from the Biden Administration.
We've already talked about how
those policy proposals
are not enough for
what we would like to see.
But he's trying to speak
out against these programs that
honestly, if they were proposed by
Donald Trump,
his constituents would love it.
They would love it.
Because the one thing that Trump
did that worked was this fake
populism, right?
Pretending as though he understands
and empathizes with the economic
concerns of Americans,
and particularly Republican voters.
Now, clearly he doesn't
actually care about those things.
He didn't actually
deliver on those things.
But his rhetoric was very different
from his actions.
Now, putting that aside,
remember, Cenk?
Romney was one of the Republicans
who proposed a pretty good program
for child tax credits.
Now, it was a Trojan horse, and
it would have cut government
programs that people need.
But on the surface he was
attempting to appeal to Republican
voters much the same way that
Donald Trump did.
And then it's interesting to see
him in that video,
where he reverts back to the old
school GOP talking points that
are against the government programs
meant to help Americans.
>> Yeah, of course.
And so, look, man, I'm telling you,
there's a there's a strand within
the Republican Party,
the Republican voters,
that is a positive one.
They now can't stand corporate
politicians like Mitt Romney.
So that's really positive,
and they're rebelling at this
basically corporate control elitist
establishment types.
And that's a wonderful development
overall.
The problem is they gotta let
the racism and the fascism go, and
they're just not there.
And that comes along with right
wing populism.
The other thing is, look,
I'm not in favor of civility.
I think civility is code word for
don't fight, don't do anything,
don't change anything, etc.
>> Just be quiet.
>> Yeah, be quiet.
But man,
there are some bounds of reason.
And I don't mean them
booing Romney.
Great, boo him,
why would I care, right?
But when he says like,
I like Biden as a man,
they're like, boo,
God damn it, boo!
Right? [LAUGH] >> I don't need to,
[LAUGH] I think Biden is too
corporate-controlled, but
I don't despise him as a person.
And there's this viciousness in
the in the right-wing that
they just can't get away from.
>> Now imagine though, Cenk,
imagine if Biden actually delivered
on what he claims he wants to
accomplish, which is
the American family's plan,
the infrastructure plan.
These proposals that would,
absolutely would, improve the lives
of the very people who were booing
him in that video.
Biden has an opportunity here,
right?
Not through rhetoric, but
through actually fighting for and
accomplishing policies,
to improve these people's lives and
actually deliver what Donald Trump
claimed he wanted to deliver.
>> Yes. >> He has an opportunity.
>> He's not going to do it, but
everybody- >> That's the thing, and
if he doesn't do it,
that paves the way for
a crushing political loss in
an upcoming presidential election.
It just does.
>> Yeah.- >> It just does,
this is it.
I mean, if the Democratic Party
does not deliver, I'm worried about
what's going to happen in the next
presidential election.
If not then, then the following
presidential election.
I mean, you think people are angry,
both in the Republican Party and
the Democratic Party,
about the economic inequality that
we're experiencing today.
Imagine how it's going to
be in four years or eight years,
if this trend continues.
>> Yeah, so look,
there's this specific part
of this story, which is, again,
I'm going to give Romney a little
bit of different credit too.
Which is that at least he didn't
humiliate himself like Ted Cruz and
Lindsey Graham, where they just
lost all of their moral core they
never had it to begin with.
But their dignity, right?
And they were like, yeah,
Donald Trump,
we'll do anything you want.
And started licking his boots,
the most pathetic beta way
you've ever seen in your life.
So at least Romney didn't do
that, okay?
But the more important part of the
story is the general note, which is
both corporate Republicans, like
Romney, and corporate Democrats,
like Biden, they don't get it.
The number one reason why Trump was
so popular in the Republican Party
is not racism or fascism or
the cult of personality.
Now, those things are real, and
they did have an effect.
But the number one reason is
because he told
establishment to eff off.
And both Republican voters and now
a growing percentage of Democratic
voters say yes, yes, please,
we hate the establishment!
We hate you elitits,
you've never done anything for us!
Anna's right.
If Democrats actually did do
something for them,
if they actually did pass a $15
minimum wage, they
actually got them Cal healthcare or
a permanent child tax credit, etc.
By the way, why did
Biden's numbers go up?
Because all people love Biden, and
he's from Scranton, and etc.?
No, the only reason Biden's numbers
went up and are really high now is
because he actually delivered for
people, he gave them checks.
He did something about unemployment
and the foreclosures, etc.
So the minute he stops doing that,
which is imminently,
they're going to go back to losing
those voters.
And the establishment cannot see
past their own perspective.
They think they're beloved by the
American people, and they are not.
I mean, Trump,
who is the worst of us, became that
popular on one simple thing,
screw the establishment.
>> Now, one final thing I wanted to
mention is that Republican
lawmakers were attempting to
censure Senator Romney.
They almost did, but they decided
not to by a very narrow margin.
After the Salt Lake Tribune
described a vigorous debate,
delegates [COUGH] excuse me,
delegates at the state party
convention on Saturday voted
narrowly against censuring him 798
to 711.
And remember they censured
Liz Cheney, and almost everyone
else in their state parties,
that dared to cross Donald Trump.
And here Romney barely survives
a censure vote.
But the message is loud and clear,
in both the vote and the booze.
No, this is Donald Trump's party,
and if you think anything else,
you're totally kidding yourself.