Culture

Mitt Romney’s Courtship Dinner With Donald Trump Inspired A Frenzy Of Reactions

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The photo above is the latest addition the lonesome ballad of former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. After fully expecting to win the 2012 election right up to the point that he lost it — something you can see in the documentary Mitt — Romney seemed to be poised to fall into the hole that happens after you fail to capture the presidency. Then Trump became the frontrunner for the 2016 nomination and many were calling on the former candidate to make a stand or return to run against the billionaire.

This led to Romney giving a scathing critical speech against Trump and becoming a voice for the Never Trump movement that seemed to sprout within the Republican party. Here’s a refresher if you’ve forgotten:

“Here’s what I know: Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud,” Romney said. “His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He’s playing members of the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House, and all we get is a lousy hat.”

This did not work, of course, and now Trump is president-elect and Romney is rolling back every criticism he has made in an apparent move to win the role of Secretary of State with the incoming administration. After meeting with Trump last week, Romney visited Trump Tower for a dinner with the president elect and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus at Jean-Georges. Despite some criticism by folks in the Trump campaign, some which has reportedly made Trump furious, it would seem that Romney is officially in Trump’s corner at this point.

https://twitter.com/jesseberney/status/803778832616538112

CNN goes ahead and lays out the menu for the group’s dinner, since that was apparently the burning thought on everybody’s mind, and Romney reported his feelings on the dinner in the lobby before leaving for the night:

“We had another discussion about affairs throughout the world and these discussions I have had with him have been enlightening and interesting and engaging. I have enjoyed them very, very much,” he said.
He added: “By the way, it’s not easy winning. I know that myself. He did something I tried to do and was unsuccessful in accomplishing. He won the general election. And he continues with a message of inclusion and bringing people together and his vision is something which obviously connected with the American people in a very powerful way.”

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The dinner itself was live tweeted by CNN’s Jim Acosta, with plenty of reference to the marshmallows in the room. He’s busted about halfway through, but he does get to ask if we’re looking at our next Secretary of State. I guess that’s a job well done, right next to knowing exactly what these men ate before deciding the fate of the nation.

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All of this pales to the public reaction online. Plenty of people immediately went to the record scratch scenario for Mitt Romney, tweeting out similar captions to this one from Josh Billinson:

https://twitter.com/jbillinson/status/803783972673163264

But other folks either felt the need to comfort Mitt Romney or find solidarity with him, despite the pained expression on his face being his normal look at most points in the day. He could be pumping gas or eating dinner with the future president, his expression remains the same. Still, people had some fun with it:

https://twitter.com/johngreen/status/803782208465080320

https://twitter.com/Olivianuzzi/status/803777241020776448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/maxsilvestri/status/803785097065304064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/ejwillingham/status/803788130536996864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/ejwillingham/status/803788130536996864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/StefanMolyneux/status/803799597692887040

https://twitter.com/cafedotcom/status/803704883845234690

https://twitter.com/SortaBad/status/803790843903557632

https://twitter.com/ears_of_steam/status/803791751777382400

https://twitter.com/cybah/status/803788116628750336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/FBillMcMorris/status/803767466069528576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/QuatroCat/status/803769692477333504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

I’m disappointed that there were My Dinner WIth Andre references, but I’ll live. The Guardian did refer to this as a “deal with the devil” dinner, so that makes up for it. I also hope I’m not alone in thinking this adminstration would be a lot better if Romney and Trump broke out into a Snow Miser song and dance.

(Via CNN)