BTRTN: The Audience of One in the Mirror

[reggieandlee]

Born To Run The Numbers compares Mitt Romney's "audience of one" to the "audience of one" of his Republican colleagues:

http://www.borntorunthenumbers.com/2020/02/btrtn-audience-of-one-in-mirror.html

Excerpts: "What a week in America.... The supposed 'unifiers' (that would be the Democrats) emerged from Iowa splintered, divided, and acrimonious, and the 'dividers' (Trumpublicans) are unified, gleeful, and celebrating. Late night comedians are the must-book interview for Democratic candidates, and the State of the Union is a Republican game show. Yeah, it’s a low bar in America right now, but our nation of besotted partisans still manage to stumble into it...
&quot Murkowski and Collins) tried to be a bit too clever, as each tried to sound like they were talking tough with the President even as they caved to his will on the actual impeachment vote. Each got twisted into a pretzel of inconsistent logic in their desperate efforts to appear strong and independent to their constituents while still falling in line behind Donald Trump...
"Much has been made in the media about 'the audience of one in the White House.' Many Republicans preen on Fox News, loudly and lovingly lathering lengthy litanies of their loyalty to Donald Trump, dearly hoping that it is 'executive time' at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave...
"Interestingly, Mitt Romney, too, has an audience of one. But his is a very, very different audience of one. If you watch Romney’s brief speech on the Senate floor, you will be quite impressed by the way Mitt briskly carves up the arguments put forth by the President’s lawyers... It would have been extremely easy for Romney to pull a Murkowski... He could have just talked the talk. But he did not. Alone, he walked the walk. And like so many Republicans, Mitt Romney made his decision based an audience of one.The difference is that for his Republican colleagues, the “audience of one” is the hoary, horrid bully at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. For Mitt Romney, the “audience of one” is the man in the mirror.