So Mitt Romney is good for a surprise other than strapping the family dog, Seamus, to the roof of his station wagon on a vacation trip to Canada in 1983. The revelation that Romney has been operating a secret Twitter account under the cognomen Pierre Delecto should come as delectable news to his fans and detractors alike. The hifalutin moniker is sure to confirm President Trump’s belief that Romney, as he put it in an earlier tweet, is a pompous “ass” who has been fighting me from the beginning.’ Not to mention Romney’s resort to French to confirm his hidden identity: ‘C’est moi.’
For their part, NeverTrumpers can draw heart from the fact that Romney really does view Trump with abhorrence, as his exchange, in the guise of Delecto, makes clear. After the indefatigable Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin accused him of ‘nonconfrontation verging on spinelessness’, Delecto leapt in to defend Romney’s honor. ‘Jennifer, you need to take a breath,’ he wrote. “’aybe you can then acknowledge the people who agree with you in large measure if not in every measure.’ Such judiciousness is, of course, classic Romney, which should already have alerted Romney-watchers that he was likely Delecto.
Now that he has been outed, though, Romney is likely to keep dropping the pretense of a Gallic shrug when queried about Trump’s latest antics. Instead, his stance seems to be inching, day by day, towards J’accuse. Already Romney is denying that he heads a potential faction of anti-Trump Republicans intent on ousting Trump by impeachment. Don’t believe a word of it. The uproar over Syria and Doral are signs that Trump’s hold on the GOP is fraying. There may not be a deep state plotting to oust Romney, but a cabal of Republican senators looking to rid the party of Trump is a near certainty. Rolling Stone recently rated Romney as No. 4 on a list of 16 Republicans who might replace Trump on the 2020 ticket. If Romney pulled it off, he could tell Republicans and the rest of the nation, plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
