Despite years of political and personal disagreements, President Donald Trump has endorsed Mitt Romney for the Utah Senate chair.
Trump tweeted his endorsement on Monday night, writing that he ‘will make a great senator and successor to @OrrinHatch.’
The support comes as a surprise to many considering Romney has been critical of Trump throughout his presidency and beforehand during the election.
Despite years of political and personal disagreements, President Donald Trump has endorsed Mitt Romney for the Utah Senate chair. the pair are pictured together in 2012
Trump tweeted his endorsement on Monday night, writing that he ‘will make a great senator and successor to @OrrinHatch’
Romney thanked Trump for the endorsement in a Tweet posted soon after the president’s statement
During the 2016 campaign Romney excoriated Trump as a ‘fraud’ who was ‘playing the American public for suckers.’
Trump responded that Romney, who ran for president against Obama in 2012, had ‘choked’ during the election.He also wrote that Romney was ‘one of the dumbest and worst candidates in the history of Republican politics.’
Romney then slammed Trump on Twitter – saying he wouldn’t have wanted his endorsement during his run in 2012.
‘If Trump had said 4 years ago the things he says today about the KKK, Muslims, Mexicans, disabled, I would NOT have accepted his endorsement,’ Romney wrote in 2016.
Since then Romney has taken aim at Trump and his policies multiple times. He hit out at the president particularly hard for his comments on white supremacists at a ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville in August.
He also condoned Trump’s endorsement of Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate special election, and slammed Trump’s comments about Haiti and other African nations as ‘s***hole countries.’
But the pair seem to have temporarily overcome their differences – and Romney thanked Trump for the endorsement in a Tweet posted soon after the president’s statement.
‘I hope that over the course of the campaign I also earn the support and endorsement of the people of Utah,’ Romney wrote.
The support comes as a surprise to many considering Romney has been critical of Trump throughout his presidency and beforehand during the election. Romney is pictured at the 2018 Utah County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner on Friday
Trump tweeted Romney, who ran for president against Obama in 2012, had ‘choked like a dog’ during the election. He also wrote that Romney was ‘one of the dumbest and worst candidates in the history of Republican politics’
Romney then slammed Trump on Twitter – saying he wouldn’t have wanted his endorsement during his run in 2012
Romney hit out at the president particularly hard for his comments on white supremacists at a ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville in August
He also condoned Trump’s endorsement of Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate special election, and slammed Trump’s comments about Haiti and other African nations as ‘s***hole countries’
Despite Romney’s prior criticism, after Trump won the presidency in November 2016, he briefly considered picking Romney as secretary of state.
After Trump’s endorsement on Monday night he followed with tweets to boast about the state of the economy since the 2016 election.
‘The U.S. economy is looking very good, in my opinion, even better than anticipated,’ Trump wrote.
‘Companies are pouring back into our country, reversing the long term trend of leaving. The unemployment numbers are looking great, and Regulations & Taxes have been massively Cut! JOBS, JOBS, JOBS’
He also tweeted about the ‘very interesting’ new book ‘The Faith of Donald Trump.’
The book is described as a ‘spiritual biography’ of the president, which looks at his relationship with evangelicals in the United States. It was written by evangelical authors and ardent Trump supporters David Brody and Scott Lamb.
Despite Romney’s prior criticism, after Trump won the presidency in November 2016, he briefly considered picking Romney as secretary of state
Romney announced he would be running for senate in Utah on Friday. He previously ran for president in 2012, and served as governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007
Trump’s tweet on Monday night comes at a critical time for Republicans, who hold 51 of the Senate’s 100 seats.
Many legislative issues require getting the support of 60 senators, and Trump has repeatedly said that he needs more Republicans elected during the 2018 congressional elections to win approval of more of his agenda.
Romney said last week he generally approved of Trump’s agenda, but would not hesitate to call out the president if needed.
‘I’m with the president’s domestic policy agenda of low taxes, low regulation, smaller government, pushing back against the bureaucrats,’ Romney said.
‘I’m not always with the president on what he might say or do, and if that happens I’ll call’em like I see’em, the way I have in the past.’
Trump had lobbied Hatch to run for re-election in 2018, in what was viewed as an effort to prevent Romney from getting into the Senate.
Trump and Romney spoke in January after Hatch announced his retirement, a White House official said.
Romney, the son of former Michigan Governor George Romney, helped found the buyout firm Bain Capital and gained prominence after stepping in to lead the organizing committee for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics after a bribery scandal.
He served as governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007.