Mitt Romney calls Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar 'morons' and 'certainly missing a few IQ points'

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) had some harsh words for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), and any other Republicans who attend white nationalist events and support Russian President Vladimir Putin amid the invasion of Ukraine.

Greene and Gosar both participated in the America First Political Action Conference Friday in Orlando, with Greene speaking in person and Gosar appearing in taped remarks, CNN reports. The conference was organized by white nationalist Nick Fuentes. During an interview Sunday on CNN's State of the Union, Romney said there is "no place in either political party for this white nationalism or racism. It's simply wrong ... it's evil as well."

As for Greene and Gosar specifically, "I don't know them, but I'm reminded of that old line from the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid movie where one character says, 'Morons, I've got morons on my team,'" Romney said. "And I have to think anybody that would sit down with white nationalists and speak at their conference was certainly missing a few IQ points."

The Week

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

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

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

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) tweeted a video on Saturday of Fuentes introducing Greene at the event and calling on the crow to "give a round of applause for Russia." Cheney wrote, "As Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep. Paul Gosar speak at this white supremacist, anti-Semitic, pro-Putin event, silence by Republican Party leaders is deafening and enabling. All Americans should renounce this garbage and reject the Putin wing of the GOP now."

Romney told CNN that Putin has been "an adversary of America at every chance he's had," and hearing Republican say they support him is "unthinkable to me, it's almost treasonous and it just makes me ill to see some of these people do that. But, of course, they do it because if they get shock value and it's good to get more eyeballs and maybe make a little more money for them or their network. It's disgusting."