Sen. Mitt Romney, who has decided to retire after his current term, took to the Senate floor on Wednesday and slammed his fellow Republicans for “abusing” their power in holding up military promotions. Specifically, he was attacking Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who has been blocking a voice vote that would confirm dozens of different promotions. Why? Because he wants the Biden administration to stop using the military to facilitate abortions. That includes paying for travel and leave as a way to undercut the Hyde Amendment.
The cause, being just in the eyes of most conservatives (and certainly morally just), has been popular on the right. Romney apparently disagrees. Here’s what he had to say.
Romney: "It's an abuse of the powers we have as senators to say if there's something we vehemently disagree with (that the Pentagon is doing) that we're going to use that power to hold up military promotions." pic.twitter.com/kumkMV5xbt
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 1, 2023
I’m almost at a loss hearing those words come out of any Republican senator’s mouth. On a technical level, Romney is simply wrong. Using his logic, the filibuster is also an “abuse of power.” I don’t think the Utah senator would agree with that, but that’s the standard he’s setting with his comment. To be clear, what Tuberville is doing is a completely legal exercise of power. Suggesting it’s an abuse of power is absurd.
Further, Romney is smart enough to know that all these promotions would have already gone through if Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had just brought them up for a real vote. Ultimately, the failure at hand, to the extent you’d call it that, is on Democrats for not wanting to dedicate floor time to the cause they claim is so important. If the military is languishing without these promotions, a highly debatable point, then bring them up for a vote. Instead, Democrats are trying to cut corners as a way to try to win the PR battle.
Regardless, Romney’s comments say everything about the GOP, or at least the part of the GOP that was marginalized after the rise of Donald Trump. Republican voters aren’t perfect, and there may be times when you can legitimately argue they are their own worst enemy. That’s true for any political party because voters are not a monolith. Still, most Republicans aren’t demanding that their representatives be self-destructive by doing objectively dumb things. What they are demanding is for them to act with conviction and wield the power they have been given to pursue righteous policy goals.
What Tuberville is doing is important. Killing babies in the womb isn’t some brush-off issue. The military’s current culture has been distorted by the current administration, and it is up to Republicans to push back. To not do so would be a dereliction of duty. Romney, whatever you may think of him, has never had that kind of conviction, and that’s why the 2012 wing of the GOP largely doesn’t exist anymore, at least not with any influence.
