Mitt Romney's last reinvention

Voting to impeach Trump was another flip for a politician defined by his changing positions

Mitt Romney.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Mario Tama/Getty Images, javarman3/iStock)

The moments before Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) delivered his speech announcing how he would vote in the Senate trial of President Trump felt like the run-up to Sen. John McCain's vote on ObamaCare repeal. Like the late Arizona Republican, you knew Romney would be reviled by some as history's greatest monster and celebrated by others as a national hero — and that the identities of these groups would flip in an instant depending on how the senator voted.

Romney voted to convict Trump of abuse of power, becoming the only Republican to do so (he voted with the rest of his party to clear the president of obstruction of Congress). The Senate ultimately voted to keep Trump in power — a two-thirds majority was required to convict, instead the Republican majority voted to acquit — but Romney gave Democrats something the GOP could never get during Bill Clinton's Senate trial: a vote to remove from the president's party. With the remaining red state Democrats all voting to convict, that created a symbolic bipartisan vote against Trump. Two Democrats had voted against the articles of impeachment in the House.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
W. James Antle III

W. James Antle III is the politics editor of the Washington Examiner, the former editor of The American Conservative, and author of Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?.