Mitt Romney (b. 1947)

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"Presidential Campaign Stump Speech" — June 3, 2011

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Biography

Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and retired politician who served as a United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007. A member of the Republican Party, he was the party's nominee in the 2012 U.S. presidential election.

Timeline

The story of Mitt Romney, told in moments.

1984 Event

Co-founds Bain Capital, a private equity firm. Over the next 15 years, it invests in Staples, Sports Authority, and Domino's Pizza. Returns average over 100% annually. He becomes very, very rich. The methods become campaign liabilities later.

Was Bain Capital's 100% annual returns worth the later political liability? Did investing in Staples and Domino's feel like building or strip-mining? Was becoming very rich the goal or a side effect?

2002 Life

Takes over the Salt Lake City Olympic organizing committee after a bribery scandal threatens the 2002 Winter Games. He cuts the budget, secures sponsors, and delivers a successful Olympics. The rescue makes him a national figure.

Was rescuing the Salt Lake City Olympics your finest achievement? Did cutting the budget and delivering a successful Games prove your management? Was that the moment you became a national figure?

2012 Event

Loses the presidential election to Barack Obama. A leaked video of him dismissing "47 percent" of voters as dependent on government becomes the defining moment of the campaign. He carries 24 states. Not enough.

Did the '47 percent' video define your candidacy unfairly? Was losing to Obama inevitable or preventable? Were 24 states enough to feel you competed?

2020 Life

Votes to convict Donald Trump in his first impeachment trial. The only Republican senator to do so. He cites his faith. His party turns on him. He doesn't run for re-election in 2024. The Republican who ran for president in 2012 is unrecognizable to the party of 2024.

Was voting to convict Trump the loneliest moment of your career? Did your party turning on you confirm or challenge your faith? Is the Republican of 2012 unrecognizable to the party of 2024?

In Their Own Words (20)

Now, I know that the shock jocks and online instigators have effectively riled up many in the far reaches of my party. But if your position is being cheered by Vladimir Putin, then it's time to reconsider your position.

On the Senate floor, regarding aid to Ukraine (February 12, 2024), 2024

"A very large portion of my party,” he told me one day, “really doesn’t believe in the Constitution."

Interviewed by McKay Coppins for his biography Romney: A Reckoning, as cited in an extract published as "What Mitt Romney Saw in the Senate", The Atlantic (September 13, 2023), 2023

Well, the Republican Party has long been the party of the Constitution. So when President Trump says he wants to suspend the Constitution, he goes from being MAGA to being RINO

Mitt Romney skewers Trump as ‘RINO’ for floating ‘termination’ of Constitution (by Ryan King, Breaking News Reporter December 5, 2022 08:27 PM), 2022

Today, there is a contest between Trumpism and Republicanism. Through the calculated statements of its leader, Trumpism has become associated with racism, misogyny, bigotry, xenophobia, vulgarity and, most recently, threats and violence. I am repulsed by each and every one of these.

Facebook, March 18, 2016, 2016

Let ISIS take out Assad, he said, and then we can pick up the remnants. Think about that: Let the most dangerous terror organization the world has ever known take over a country? This is recklessness in the extreme.

About Donald Trump's statements about Syria and ISIS on ''''., 2016

Artifacts (15)

Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games

The governor of Massachusetts gives readers the inside story on how he rescued the Salt Lake City Olympics--and how his own brand of leadership makes him one of the Republican Party's most compelling...

2007

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No Apology: Believe in America

The #1 New York Times bestseller about putting America back in the lead and building a better future from former US Presidential Candidate and 2018 Utah Senate Candidate. In No Apology, Mitt Romney...

2010

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No Apology: The Case for American Greatness

On his first presidential visit to address the European nations, President Obama felt it necessary to apologize for America’s international power. He repeated that apology when visiting Latin America,...

2010

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No Apology: Believe in America : the Case for American Greatness

Reacting to President Obama's remarks in which he repeatedly apologizes for America's international power, Romney asserts that American strength is essential--not just for our own well-being, but for...

2011

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Mitt Happens: The Strange Rise of Mitt Romney

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2012

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The Dog Ate My Tax Returns: The World According to Mitt Romney

He's been called the most intellectually dishonest human being in the history of politics. Most of the things he says are based more on pandering than on his core convictions (does he even have any of...

2012

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