Earlier this year, Sen David Perdue (R-GA) wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post criticizing an op-ed written by then Senator-elect Mitt Romney. My line-by-line responses to Sen Perdue’s words can be found [in brackets.]
Sen. David Perdue: Mitt Romney makes the same mistake that cost him the White House
David Perdue, a Republican, is a U.S. senator from Georgia.
In a recent op-ed for The Post, “The president shapes the public character of the nation. Trump’s character falls short,” Mitt Romney made the same mistake that many Republicans did in 2012 — a mistake that cost him the White House. [No, it didn’t.]
With his attempted character assassination [Donald J. Trump, Sr., is a well-documented misogynistic, pathologically narcissistic, money-laundering criminal, but do go on] of the president [who seized office with the clear and successful help of the Russians], a fellow Republican [when he wasn’t a registered Democrat], Romney put self-interest [Why do you make the assumption that someone else’s actions are always in their own self-interest when they conflict with yours? Is it because doing things that are only in your own self-interests is what you do?] ahead of the larger national interest: conservative Republican governance. [This is a false premise. There is no evidence whatsoever that
conservative Republican governance is in the national interest. In fact, the opposite has been proven true. Kansas. Wisconsin. Michigan. So you’re putting your party’s interests over the national interest.] The op-ed brought to mind 2012, when many Republicans chose to divide the party by continually bashing each other. [That’s because that is how conservatives counter someone’s argument – by attacking the person making it. Often, one reason is because the arguments themselves are not defensible. Simply having an argument is not equivalent to having a valid argument.] Romney eventually discovered that many discouraged GOP voters decided to stay home on Election Day. [Maybe, just maybe, they stayed home because your party wasn’t offering anybody worthy of their votes.]
Do not mistake what I’m saying for an attack on Romney. It isn’t. [It is.] The matter is bigger than both Romney and President Trump. [Haven’t you figured out yet that in his own mind, nothing is bigger or more important than Donald Trump?] It is about the future direction of the nation. [This is, in part, that of which Mitt Romney was trying to warn us.]
Like others who have run for president and failed, Romney has taken a stance that smacks of jealousy and resentment. It does nothing but serve the radical liberal left [In your mind, all liberals are “radical.” And that’s because to a conservative, all change is radical.] and further divides conservatives [who don’t like diversity in their thinking.]
As the only former chief executive of a Fortune 500 company in Congress, I was initially thrilled by the prospect of welcoming another business guy to the Senate. [David Perdue makes the same mistake Republicans did that cost them the House of Representatives. He presumes that a talent for running a for-profit corporation focused on the narrow interests of its shareholders is equivalent to the skills necessary to govern a nation of 300 million whose broad interests are not only varied but often in conflict with each other. Governing is not like running a business at all. First of all, there’s no competition. There’s no alternative government in this country that might attract away the people who don’t like or want to follow your laws. Second, in a business, everyone has to do what you The Boss say because you can fire them if they don’t. Not so in government. As a Senator, you don’t have to do what Donald Trump tells you to do. He can’t fire you. Third, the goals of a business are substantially different from those of a government. A business exists to maximize profits for its shareholders. A government exists to maximize services for its citizens, and not have unspent money left over that could have helped more people. That’s true whether you like it or not.] But Romney’s behavior — before he was sworn in or cast his first vote as the new senator from Utah — was deeply disappointing. [I’m not surprised you find it “disappointing” when a private citizen exercises his rights of free speech and of petitioning the government for a redress of grievances. That is behavior you took an oath to support and defend.]
He ran to the media instead of picking up the phone. [You say that like it was an either/or choice.] That is exactly what is wrong with Washington. [You say that like it’s the only thing wrong with Washington.] Too many career politicians focus on finger-pointing for their own self-interest rather than on getting results. [Again with the accusations of self-interest because you think it’s not in your party’s interests. He was trying to warn everyone about the dangerous man in the White house. Why aren’t you doing the same? It’s obvious from your comments in this op-ed that you think it’s more important to have Republicans in charge than it is to have competent people in charge.]
We have seen what a divided party means for Republicans. It means we help put Democrats in charge. [You say that like it’s a bad thing.] It means we help them advance their radical liberal agenda, which has proven to fail the very people they claim to champion: the working women and men of America. [By every measure, the nation as a whole does much better when Democrats are in charge. That is simply a fact, Senator.]
Conservatives know that bigger government, higher taxes and single-payer health care should not be the way forward. [No, Conservatives believe that. They don’t know that because it isn’t true. You want to protect the for-profit healthcare system because you believe everyone is motivated by the desire to make as much money as possible.] It’s fiscally and socially irresponsible. [No, banning the government from negotiating for lower drug prices for Medicare is fiscally and socially irresponsible. Cutting taxes several times during a time of war is fiscally and socially irresponsible. Taking money out of circulation by cutting taxes on the super rich, who don’t spend it and stimulate the economy with it, is fiscally and socially irresponsible.]
The mainstream media and Democrats want to further divide Republicans, and now Romney has played right into their hands. [Actually it’s Republicans dividing Republicans. There was a time when moderate Conservatives and even Liberals were welcome in the Republican Party. Now, even Ronald Reagan and his amnesty for illegal immigrants would be unwelcome.] Jeff Flake (Ariz.) filled that role before his retirement [no he didn’t; he still sided with Trump]; the last thing we need now in the Senate is a Jeff Flake on steroids. [There is no believable way that Mitt Romney can be described as anything “on steroids.” The man exudes blandness.] We certainly don’t need more distractions. [You’ll have to talk to the president about that.] We need constructive leaders who want to get things done. [You don’t have any. Mitch McConnell is spineless and won’t stand up to an irresponsible, unqualified, disloyal criminal traitor, so why would you expect him to want to get things done?]
Like many other leaders in history, Trump is certainly an unusual president. [Yes, most leaders in history have had an IQ in the three-digit range.] He does not fit the typical mold of a Washington politician. [No, the typical mold of a Washington politician is someone who knows how Washington politics works, how laws are passed, what diplomacy is for, and how not to shut down the government.] That is exactly why the American people, fed up with business as usual, elected him. [The American people didn’t elect him! The Russians did. He did not win fairly and squarely.]
The presidency is bigger than any one individual. [Not to Trump it isn’t.] It is about providing a vision and executing an agenda to advance all Americans. [Not to Trump it isn’t.] Criticism of the president or his policy decisions is, of course, not off-limits. [Not to Trump it isn’t.] But I believe it is much more productive to have candid conversations behind the scenes. [Not to Trump it isn’t.]
The Republican agenda is working. [It’s working only if your agenda is to make the rich richer, the poor poorer, the income inequality gap larger, and the accountability in Washington of those responsible smaller.] Just look at the results. [I have. Have you?] As the news about employment and wages on Friday confirmed, over the past two years, the United States has undergone an astonishing economic turnaround. [It’s an economic turnaround that began under Obama, who rescued us from the same disastrous Republican economic agenda, an agenda that does not work and never has, but which they want to keep ramming down our throats, to borrow an expression they seem to love.] The economy is growing at twice the rate it did under President Barack Obama. [But not because of anything Trump did.] More than 4.4 million new jobs were created in 2017 and 2018 . [But not because of anything Trump did.] Middle-class income is at an all-time high. [But not because of anything Trump did.] Overall unemployment is the lowest in 50 years, and African American, Hispanic and Asian American unemployment is at historically low levels. [But not because of anything Trump did. And it doesn’t prove he’s not a racist bigot.]
Clearly, this president understands that his primary role is to protect Americans. [No, it isn’t.] He is strengthening the military and reasserting U.S. leadership around the world. [No, he isn’t.] These results would be absolutely celebrated if anyone else were president. [No, they wouldn’t.] Instead, “the resistance” has spread from the political extremes to the media and now to the Republican Party itself. [‘Bout fucking time.]
Imagine if Romney had been elected president and removed hundreds of regulations [regulations designed to protect Americans’ health from unscrupulous and unethical corporations], passed a historic tax bill [historic in the sense that it was the largest tax giveaway to the super wealthy of a nation at war in the history of Civilization], made the United States’ NATO allies pay their fair share [they were already paying their fair share. Trump still has absolutely no understanding of how NATO works, do you?], negotiated a new trade deal with Mexico and Canada, and stood up to China [which he didn’t really have much direct involvement in, and which hasn’t yet been ratified by the US Senate.] Would he have been met with this type of resistance? Of course not. [But only because he hasn’t also conspired with a foreign enemy who launched a cyber war against us in order to get himself elected so he could lift sanctions against that enemy and get a hotel project built that current sanctions are preventing, violated the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause from the minute he took the oath of office, or broke federal campaign finance laws by paying off mistresses so they wouldn’t influence the election, but we still would have resisted.]
We are on track to change the nation’s direction for the better. [No, you’re not.] We are on track to restore economic opportunity, fiscal responsibility, limited government and individual liberty. [No, you’re not.] I hope Romney, who plans to caucus with Republicans, will reconsider continuing his harmful behavior as he begins his Senate career. [Only a Conservative would see telling the truth as harmful.]
Instead, I hope he will join me as one of the few business-minded leaders who can stay focused on getting the job done. [And which job is that? Making the business world richer and less accountable to the people it kills?]
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Pick Wayne's Brain 
Why David Perdue Is Wrong About Why Mitt Romney Is Wrong
Earlier this year, Sen David Perdue (R-GA) wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post criticizing an op-ed written by then Senator-elect Mitt Romney. My line-by-line responses to Sen Perdue’s words can be found [in brackets.]
Sen. David Perdue: Mitt Romney makes the same mistake that cost him the White House
David Perdue, a Republican, is a U.S. senator from Georgia.
In a recent op-ed for The Post, “The president shapes the public character of the nation. Trump’s character falls short,” Mitt Romney made the same mistake that many Republicans did in 2012 — a mistake that cost him the White House. [No, it didn’t.]
With his attempted character assassination [Donald J. Trump, Sr., is a well-documented misogynistic, pathologically narcissistic, money-laundering criminal, but do go on] of the president [who seized office with the clear and successful help of the Russians], a fellow Republican [when he wasn’t a registered Democrat], Romney put self-interest [Why do you make the assumption that someone else’s actions are always in their own self-interest when they conflict with yours? Is it because doing things that are only in your own self-interests is what you do?] ahead of the larger national interest: conservative Republican governance. [This is a false premise. There is no evidence whatsoever that
conservative Republican governance is in the national interest. In fact, the opposite has been proven true. Kansas. Wisconsin. Michigan. So you’re putting your party’s interests over the national interest.] The op-ed brought to mind 2012, when many Republicans chose to divide the party by continually bashing each other. [That’s because that is how conservatives counter someone’s argument – by attacking the person making it. Often, one reason is because the arguments themselves are not defensible. Simply having an argument is not equivalent to having a valid argument.] Romney eventually discovered that many discouraged GOP voters decided to stay home on Election Day. [Maybe, just maybe, they stayed home because your party wasn’t offering anybody worthy of their votes.]
Do not mistake what I’m saying for an attack on Romney. It isn’t. [It is.] The matter is bigger than both Romney and President Trump. [Haven’t you figured out yet that in his own mind, nothing is bigger or more important than Donald Trump?] It is about the future direction of the nation. [This is, in part, that of which Mitt Romney was trying to warn us.]
Like others who have run for president and failed, Romney has taken a stance that smacks of jealousy and resentment. It does nothing but serve the radical liberal left [In your mind, all liberals are “radical.” And that’s because to a conservative, all change is radical.] and further divides conservatives [who don’t like diversity in their thinking.]
As the only former chief executive of a Fortune 500 company in Congress, I was initially thrilled by the prospect of welcoming another business guy to the Senate. [David Perdue makes the same mistake Republicans did that cost them the House of Representatives. He presumes that a talent for running a for-profit corporation focused on the narrow interests of its shareholders is equivalent to the skills necessary to govern a nation of 300 million whose broad interests are not only varied but often in conflict with each other. Governing is not like running a business at all. First of all, there’s no competition. There’s no alternative government in this country that might attract away the people who don’t like or want to follow your laws. Second, in a business, everyone has to do what you The Boss say because you can fire them if they don’t. Not so in government. As a Senator, you don’t have to do what Donald Trump tells you to do. He can’t fire you. Third, the goals of a business are substantially different from those of a government. A business exists to maximize profits for its shareholders. A government exists to maximize services for its citizens, and not have unspent money left over that could have helped more people. That’s true whether you like it or not.] But Romney’s behavior — before he was sworn in or cast his first vote as the new senator from Utah — was deeply disappointing. [I’m not surprised you find it “disappointing” when a private citizen exercises his rights of free speech and of petitioning the government for a redress of grievances. That is behavior you took an oath to support and defend.]
He ran to the media instead of picking up the phone. [You say that like it was an either/or choice.] That is exactly what is wrong with Washington. [You say that like it’s the only thing wrong with Washington.] Too many career politicians focus on finger-pointing for their own self-interest rather than on getting results. [Again with the accusations of self-interest because you think it’s not in your party’s interests. He was trying to warn everyone about the dangerous man in the White house. Why aren’t you doing the same? It’s obvious from your comments in this op-ed that you think it’s more important to have Republicans in charge than it is to have competent people in charge.]
We have seen what a divided party means for Republicans. It means we help put Democrats in charge. [You say that like it’s a bad thing.] It means we help them advance their radical liberal agenda, which has proven to fail the very people they claim to champion: the working women and men of America. [By every measure, the nation as a whole does much better when Democrats are in charge. That is simply a fact, Senator.]
Conservatives know that bigger government, higher taxes and single-payer health care should not be the way forward. [No, Conservatives believe that. They don’t know that because it isn’t true. You want to protect the for-profit healthcare system because you believe everyone is motivated by the desire to make as much money as possible.] It’s fiscally and socially irresponsible. [No, banning the government from negotiating for lower drug prices for Medicare is fiscally and socially irresponsible. Cutting taxes several times during a time of war is fiscally and socially irresponsible. Taking money out of circulation by cutting taxes on the super rich, who don’t spend it and stimulate the economy with it, is fiscally and socially irresponsible.]
The mainstream media and Democrats want to further divide Republicans, and now Romney has played right into their hands. [Actually it’s Republicans dividing Republicans. There was a time when moderate Conservatives and even Liberals were welcome in the Republican Party. Now, even Ronald Reagan and his amnesty for illegal immigrants would be unwelcome.] Jeff Flake (Ariz.) filled that role before his retirement [no he didn’t; he still sided with Trump]; the last thing we need now in the Senate is a Jeff Flake on steroids. [There is no believable way that Mitt Romney can be described as anything “on steroids.” The man exudes blandness.] We certainly don’t need more distractions. [You’ll have to talk to the president about that.] We need constructive leaders who want to get things done. [You don’t have any. Mitch McConnell is spineless and won’t stand up to an irresponsible, unqualified, disloyal criminal traitor, so why would you expect him to want to get things done?]
Like many other leaders in history, Trump is certainly an unusual president. [Yes, most leaders in history have had an IQ in the three-digit range.] He does not fit the typical mold of a Washington politician. [No, the typical mold of a Washington politician is someone who knows how Washington politics works, how laws are passed, what diplomacy is for, and how not to shut down the government.] That is exactly why the American people, fed up with business as usual, elected him. [The American people didn’t elect him! The Russians did. He did not win fairly and squarely.]
The presidency is bigger than any one individual. [Not to Trump it isn’t.] It is about providing a vision and executing an agenda to advance all Americans. [Not to Trump it isn’t.] Criticism of the president or his policy decisions is, of course, not off-limits. [Not to Trump it isn’t.] But I believe it is much more productive to have candid conversations behind the scenes. [Not to Trump it isn’t.]
The Republican agenda is working. [It’s working only if your agenda is to make the rich richer, the poor poorer, the income inequality gap larger, and the accountability in Washington of those responsible smaller.] Just look at the results. [I have. Have you?] As the news about employment and wages on Friday confirmed, over the past two years, the United States has undergone an astonishing economic turnaround. [It’s an economic turnaround that began under Obama, who rescued us from the same disastrous Republican economic agenda, an agenda that does not work and never has, but which they want to keep ramming down our throats, to borrow an expression they seem to love.] The economy is growing at twice the rate it did under President Barack Obama. [But not because of anything Trump did.] More than 4.4 million new jobs were created in 2017 and 2018 . [But not because of anything Trump did.] Middle-class income is at an all-time high. [But not because of anything Trump did.] Overall unemployment is the lowest in 50 years, and African American, Hispanic and Asian American unemployment is at historically low levels. [But not because of anything Trump did. And it doesn’t prove he’s not a racist bigot.]
Clearly, this president understands that his primary role is to protect Americans. [No, it isn’t.] He is strengthening the military and reasserting U.S. leadership around the world. [No, he isn’t.] These results would be absolutely celebrated if anyone else were president. [No, they wouldn’t.] Instead, “the resistance” has spread from the political extremes to the media and now to the Republican Party itself. [‘Bout fucking time.]
Imagine if Romney had been elected president and removed hundreds of regulations [regulations designed to protect Americans’ health from unscrupulous and unethical corporations], passed a historic tax bill [historic in the sense that it was the largest tax giveaway to the super wealthy of a nation at war in the history of Civilization], made the United States’ NATO allies pay their fair share [they were already paying their fair share. Trump still has absolutely no understanding of how NATO works, do you?], negotiated a new trade deal with Mexico and Canada, and stood up to China [which he didn’t really have much direct involvement in, and which hasn’t yet been ratified by the US Senate.] Would he have been met with this type of resistance? Of course not. [But only because he hasn’t also conspired with a foreign enemy who launched a cyber war against us in order to get himself elected so he could lift sanctions against that enemy and get a hotel project built that current sanctions are preventing, violated the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause from the minute he took the oath of office, or broke federal campaign finance laws by paying off mistresses so they wouldn’t influence the election, but we still would have resisted.]
We are on track to change the nation’s direction for the better. [No, you’re not.] We are on track to restore economic opportunity, fiscal responsibility, limited government and individual liberty. [No, you’re not.] I hope Romney, who plans to caucus with Republicans, will reconsider continuing his harmful behavior as he begins his Senate career. [Only a Conservative would see telling the truth as harmful.]
Instead, I hope he will join me as one of the few business-minded leaders who can stay focused on getting the job done. [And which job is that? Making the business world richer and less accountable to the people it kills?]
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