Jim Newton

Itasca

Someone said, “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” Former ambassador and recent Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley has a similar problem with chaos–the kind that follows a certain ex-president. Actually, the chaos was CREATED by that ex-president, it’s doesn’t just follow him around. Thanks to people like Haley, it’s raining chaos, and no one’s doing anything about it.

Republicans, had one job to do: redeem themselves after the debacles of November 2016 and Jan. 6, 2021.

Why couldn’t the GOP have reprised some old-fashioned “smoke-filled room” magic and presented Mitt Romney as their 2024 standard-bearer? Yes, he’s 76 and is retiring in 2025. But he’s a principled, articulate 76. We could have had a relatively sane campaign with less contentious presidential debates this fall–but no.

If you think “smoke-filled rooms” are out of the question in today’s electoral process, how do you feel about insurrections? They were once out of the question too.

Romney might have declined running for president, but someone could have asked him.