In one of his final public meetings as a senator, Mitt Romney said Washington politics has turned performative in the face of a growing national debt and China’s military build-up. He spoke as part of the Sutherland Institute’s Congressional Series.
Romney began Tuesday’s public forum by comparing modern-day politics to professional wrestling.
“That’s the closest parallel I can come up with for Washington imaginable, which is most of what goes on in Washington is performance,” Romney said. “People who act like they can’t stand each other but actually are just performing.”
He added, “The objective is not to actually do anything, it’s just to make a lot of noise and show that you’re fighting. That’s what it’s about.”
For Romney, the growing national debt stands front and center of Congress’ inaction. The total debt owed is $35.7 trillion, with $1 trillion in interest from this year alone. Romney said the money used to pay interest could have gone to quadrupling military hardware purchases or doubling social security payments.
“So we got some big challenges, and all this performance by the, if you will, the professional wrestlers has kept us from dealing with the debt that we have,” he said.
China and International Interference
The performative nature of Congress, according to Romney, is why the U.S. has not developed an effective response to China’s ascendence as a world superpower.
“They’re succeeding, and we’re kind of in retreat … they’re going to keep doing what they’re doing, which is dominating one industry after another … and taking the cash from that to build a military that will be far larger than ours,” he said.
When asked if foreign governments are interfering in the U.S. election, Romney said intelligence agencies have briefed Congress on the goals of foreign countries spreading disinformation through social media.
“China, interestingly, is of the view that discord and disunity is the best strategy,” he said. “So they’re using their bots and social media, in particular, just to spread anger, rumors, conspiracy theories, and get Americans to dislike Americans and to lose trust in democracy.”
Romney said while China is not trying to tip the scale in favor of any particular candidate, Russia is attempting to increase support for Donald Trump and Iran is pushing for Vice President Kamala Harris.
Iran has not endorsed Harris, but according to a Politico article, “three members of the Iranian military hacked the Trump campaign’s email accounts and sent hacked information to the Biden campaign.”
“Although it’s not just being put out by the Russians and the Chinese,” Romney said. “Former President Trump told us that people in Springfield are eating dogs and cats.”
The false claim that Haitian immigrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio sprung from a “game of telephone“ over a Facebook post. Trump amplified the false claim during his presidential debate with Harris.
Schools and city officials in Springfield faced bomb threats soon after the presidential debate. Trump did not condemn the bomb threats.
“He just makes it up. And so he is able to spew enough disinformation that Chinese must be smiling,” Romney said. “Kamala Harris also says things that are inaccurate. Her pitch is that [Trump] is going to put in place Project 25.”
The 2024 Election
Project 2025 is a set of policy proposals developed by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that held a lot of sway in Trump’s first term. Some of the policy recommendations include eliminating the Department of Education, banning pornography and reversing the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone.
Trump has repeatedly denied his personal involvement in Project 2025. However, he falsely claimed on Truth Social he doesn’t know anyone involved in the project. At least 140 people who worked in his administration contributed to the plan.
“I don’t know who you believe in that regard, but I surely think that President Trump, when it comes to a holiday from the truth, he’s taken the longest vacation,” Romney said.
When asked what’s stopping him from endorsing Harris for president, Romney did not explicitly answer.
“I made it very clear that I don’t want Donald Trump to be the next president of the United States, and you’re going to have to do the very difficult calculation of what that would mean,” he responded.
Romney refuses to endorse Harris outright because he thinks he will have more influence on the Republican Party “by virtue of saying it, as I’ve said it.“
“I want to continue to have a voice in the Republican Party following this election because I think there’s a good shot that the Republican Party is going to need to be rebuilt and reoriented either after this election or, if Donald Trump is re-elected, after he’s the president,“ he said.
Romney said he regrets nothing in his term in the Senate. He said he only followed policies he thought were right and mentioned voting to convict Trump twice as an example.
“I knew that voting to convict him would mean a world of hurt … but I have to sleep with my conscience. And I can tell you, having had the experience of a lifetime, just do what you believe is right,” Romney said. “And you may be wrong, but doing what you believe is right is a … wonderfully relieving decision to make.“
