OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Sen. Mitt Romney is going after Donald Trump — again.
The Utah Republican is warning Democrats that they need to stop trying to ax the Senate filibuster because he says it will help Republicans take total power in 2022.
Romney also suggested that Donald Trump may run and win the presidency again in 2024 and that Democrats would be wise not to end the Senate filibuster, which requires 60 votes to pass legislation instead of 51 votes.
Romney said there is a “reasonable chance Republicans will win both houses in Congress and that Donald Trump himself could once again be elected president in 2024.”
“Have Democrats thought what it would mean for them — for the Democrat minority — to have no power whatsoever?” he continued.
Romney said, “The United States Senate is one of our vital democratic institutions, and the power is given to the minority in the Senate and the resulting requirement for political consensus is among the Senate’s defining features.”
“Note that in the federal government, empowerment of the minority is established through only one institution: the Senate,” he continued. “The majority decides in the House; the majority decides in the Supreme Court; and the president, of course, is a majority of one. Only in the Senate does the minority restrain the power of the majority.”
He called allowing the minority to have power “critical” because then bill passing through the Senate will be aimed to be bipartisan and not “originate from the extreme wing of either [party].”
This is the second time in recent weeks where Romney has attacked Trump.
Last month, Romney used his connection with the liberal Washington Post to spread talking points about how Democrats can use the filibuster to stop Trump if he runs for president again and wins re-election.
In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Romney said Democrats should keep the filibuster as a technical strategy to prevent Trump from passing an agenda in the event that he becomes president again.
“Have Democrats thought through what it would mean for them for Trump to be entirely unrestrained, with the Democratic minority having no power whatsoever? If Democrats eliminate the filibuster now, they — and the country — may soon regret it very much.”
Romney added:
For several years, many of us have recoiled as foundational American institutions have repeatedly been demeaned: The judiciary has been accused of racial bias; the media maligned as the enemy of the people; justice and intelligence agencies belittled; public health agencies dismissed; even our election system has been accused of being rigged.
The United States Senate is one of our vital democratic institutions. Since shortly after our nation’s founding, a single senator has been permitted to speak indefinitely, delaying and possibly impairing legislation favored by the majority, even if that senator were in the minority. When rules were eventually developed to cut off debate, the Senate required that decision to be made by a supermajority of senators, first 67 and now 60.
The power given to the minority and the resulting requirement for political consensus is among the Senate’s defining features.
Consider how different the Senate would be without the filibuster. Whenever one party replaced the other as the majority, tax and spending priorities, safety net programs, national security policy, and cultural interests would careen from one extreme to the other, creating uncertainty and unpredictability for families, employers, and our partners around the world.
And not only that, but Romney even predicts that Trump could win again, saying he has a “reasonable chance” in the next election, 2024.
Romney continues to find ways to stoop as low as he possibly can to attack Trump.
A few months ago, Romney argued that Trump is also to blame for the crisis in Afghanistan.
