Mitt Romney Called Marjorie Taylor Greene And Paul Gosar ‘Morons’ For Attending A White Nationalist Event

Mitt Romney has had arguably the most interesting last decade of anyone in the GOP. Ten years ago, he was the Republican presidential nominee. Today he’s one of the only members of his party to speak out against Trump (following a brief dalliance in his orbit, of course). On Sunday, he even went on CNN, the enemy to most on the far right, where he called certain extremist members of his party “morons.”

Over the weekend, while Ukraine is fighting off invading Russian forces, the GOP is throwing their annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida, which features speakers such as former president Donald Trump praising Russian leader (and good buddy) Vladimir Putin. At the same, a kind of counter-conference is being held. That one is run by noted white nationalists. Very few key Republican lawmakers are speaking there — with the exception of Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar, the Arizona representative so despicable his own siblings hate his guts.

During his CNN appearance, Romney was asked about the tiny anti-Trump wing of his own party, especially those who’ve sung the praises of Putin. Liz Cheney, the daughter of former vice president Dick, who was censured by her own party for standing up to Trump, even tweeted, “All Americans should renounce this garbage and reject the Putin wing of the GOP now.”

Romney concurs. “Obviously, Liz Cheney was right with that statement and she has been right for a long time,” he told CNN’s Dana Bash. “I also saw that Ronna McDaniel came out with a statement as well talking about how repugnant these white nationalists are.”

They then moved onto that white nationalist gathering. “There’s no place in either political party for this white nationalism or racism,” Romney stated. “It’s simply wrong. As you’ve indicated, speaking of evil, it’s evil as well.”

He then addressed the two representatives who attended that conference. “Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar, I don’t know them,” Romney said. “But I’m reminded of that old line from the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid movie where one character says, ‘Morons, I have morons on my team!’”

Romney added, “And I have to think anybody who would sit down with white nationalists and speak at their conference was certainly missing a few IQ points.”

Romney also addressed the pro-Putin members of his party, including Trump, who’s praised the Russian leader’s actions as “genius” and “very savvy.”

“Well, I said it’s nearly treasonous,” Romney remarked. “Standing up for freedom is the right thing to do in America. Anything less than that, in my opinion, is unworthy of American support.”

In the last couple days, Trump and even Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who’s gone so far as to denounce Ukraine as “corrupt” while praising Putin, have tried to walk back their statements. In Trump’s case, he couldn’t help himself from both formally condemning the invasion while calling Putin “smart.”

Meanwhile, other members of Romney’s party refuse to condemn Trump’s remarks, even when asked no less than four times.

(Via The Daily Beast)