Memo To Mitt : Shut Up While You’re Behind

By Guy Somerset

Memo To Mitt : Shut Up While You're Behindby Guy Somerset There is a certain art of knowing when to fade away. Some politicians have it, such as General Douglas MacArthur. Some politicians lack it, such as Adlai Stevenson. While it seemed in recent years our candidates had developed a sense of when to vanish, leave it to clueless Mitt Romney to mar the canvas.

Preening before the cameras to make himself again relevant in a country which never wanted him in the first place, today Romney gave a speech in Utah to lambast the overwhelming choice of Republican primary voters to be their candidate for the Presidency in November, Donald J. Trump.

It all began, as it always does, with a "Shining City on a Hill." While that phrase may not be familiar to many abroad, this is the hackneyed cliché used by every pretentious poseur within the Republican Party. They haul it out whenever they want audiences to know they are serious and speaking for the ages rather than for their audience. It's always ineffectual, never seems authentic and yet you can't have a Republican speech without these exact words. Mitt, as usual, demonstrated himself absolutely no different.

To the extent there was a tone to his talk Mitt seemed to be channeling what he imagines is a "tough guy." Unfortunately, it has been a long while since Romney has met one. The harshest word he had for Trump? He said Donald is a "phony." When was the last time anyone used the word "phony" in modern America? Never. Nobody speaks this way outside of James Cagney in The Public Enemy circa 1930!

While unoriginal syntax and antiquated vocabulary may seem petty points, these speak to a much larger issue - the simple reality that Mitt Romney, like party leadership, has no idea how ordinary Americans converse and behave. The regular man on the street is as alien to Mitt as an extraterrestrial from Mars.

The two easiest ways in the world to spot when a politician is lying to you are: a) when he uses expressions which are supposed to sound solemn, and b) when he has to have every sentence memorized. Honest men don't make eulogies on the campaign trail and they never need to mince their words. Trump may ramble around on the stump, but you never have to question where he's going.

As if the manner of our preeminent Failure-In-Chief wasn't enough for observers to laugh about, Romney followed up his flowery phrases with the most ludicrous accounting of so-called admonitions about Trump as has ever been aired outside of a country club locker room.

First was the contention Donald Trump is not a successful businessman because he has had numerous business ventures which failed. Even as Romney spoke many of us were left to wonder where Mitt has been the past decade? What else is contemporary America other than a failed business? Our wars all failed, our housing markets failed, the stock market failed and the majority of Americans now make less money than they did ten years ago. If Romney wants to gain popular support from voters, ridiculing failure is hardly the way to go about it. People are voting for Trump because they want to reverse their failures - and a candidate who has succeeded in spite of his own seems like a darn good bet to them.

Incidentally, let's discuss the relative merits of Mitt Romney's business acumen vis-à-vis Donald Trump.  Romney was a venture capitalist. For those who do not know what this term means it is a wealthy man who purchases underproductive companies, breaks them up to sell off the parts, usually liquidates the pensions accumulated over a lifetime by the laborers and then fires most of the employees. It is at best creative destruction; money is created from destroying lives. The rich guy in this example would be Mitt Romney and the abused workers would be everyone else. 

On the other hand, Trump builds things. He largely constructs apartments, hotels and skyscrapers. These endeavors put food on the table of ordinary Americans in a myriad of ways. First, in construction. Second, in services. Third, in maintenance. While not as glamorous as Mitt dining in Davos while he decides how to steal the savings of the "little people," the Donald offers decent jobs at living wages which allow citizens to afford a home and raise their children. That might seem like small potatoes to Mitt Romney but it is the way of living and dying for most of the people in the United States of America. 

Likewise, Mitt went on about Donald Trump's tax returns. For some reason having a candidate release their tax returns seems vitally important to both the parties and the press. Confidentially, voters here don't care. No one, except maybe an accountant or two, has ever not voted for someone because they didn't release their tax returns in a timely manner. It just doesn't matter to everyday Americans. It is something the media talks about when they can't find enough news to fill the air that particular cycle. 

Yet assume Mitt's implication that Donald pays a low tax rate is true. If Donald does pay less, is Mitt so out of touch he doesn't comprehend literally everyone wants to pay fewer taxes? If Trump pays less that won't offend the average voter; the average voter will want Trump to teach him how to do the same!

After clearly demonstrating for us that he has no rational understanding of domestic politics, Mitt then moved on to international affairs where he (amazingly) proved he knew even less.

Like most career politicians, Mitt needs a monster to slay. For a long while he and his cohorts chose Iraqis but Americans have finally wised up to this little ploy so the professionals need someone else. China will be the main event for the warmongers so they will save it for when they really want a good show. Still, in the meantime, they need someone to frighten voters. Predictably, Mitt chose Putin.

Now, making a list of reasons why setting Americans up against Russians is the stupidest idea known to man would require ten times the space allotted in this article. (We are natural allies, we share the same general culture and the fact that most Americans happen to particularly like Russian people are just a very few of the innumerable rebuttals.) However there is one point especially notable - if Putin and "The Russians" are so bad, Mitt, why does your son seek them as investors? Do you think we are too backward to notice news reports about the financial deals your boy does in Russia? Or, as millions of us suspect, do you just consider yourself so far above us that what's good for your family isn't good enough for the rest of us? For the record, are we supposed to fear Putin or go into business with him?

Speaking of which, just how many wars do you want to start, Mitt? We already know Russia is on your hit list, but you also seem hysterical over ISIS. But let's be clear - Syria is worth less to Americans than Cincinnati. It's a metaphor, but an apt one. Our industrial cities are dying out. Worse, they are riddled by "refugee" criminals which do nothing but cause social problems. We don't need to worry about fighting them "over there" when you and your ilk keep "inviting them here" by the tens of millions!

Your policies have succeeded in making every neighborhood in which a home costs less than $50,000 into a total war zone. Of course, you don't see it because you don't live it. However it is the harsh truth for the vast majority of Traditional Americans who are trying to make it through the day. Your Third World invitees are simply not compatible with civilization.

Of course, this leads us to a discussion of race. Well, let's chat for a moment about that, Mitt, since you were determined to dredge David Duke into the discussion. For the record, though David Duke may have endorsed Donald Trump, Donald Trump did not endorse David Duke. Additionally, Trump repeatedly rejected his endorsement for several days even as you and your corporate media minions pretended otherwise and demanded he "disavow" the man. So be it.

Here's some racism for you, Mitt. David Duke, while offensive to many, has never actually committed a violent crime. Not one. Never has he done any physical violence to anyone. Like almost everyone else, I don't agree with what he says, but as long as he all he does is talk it isn't an issue. Conversely, Black Lives Matter terrorists actually beat up an American serviceman in Washington D.C. last week for doing nothing but eating in a McDonald's. It wasn't the first time. Do you "disavow" Black Lives Matter, Mitt?

As for cults, which is what the KKK basically is, do we really need to venture into that territory? Coming from a man who wears a white sheet under his clothes every single day? A sect which allows harems and plural marriages? Tell me Mitt, do you as a Mormon "disavow" all other Mormons who follow the teachings of your founder Joseph Smith, who had a personal tribe of female sex-slaves?

More importantly, do you "disavow" Mormons who reject black people? After all, Brigham Young taught that blacks were the sons of the devil because of their dark skin. You were raised in a racially segregated church and worshipped in a segregated church most of your life, you dithering hypocrite! Only in 1978 when the federal government threatened to revoke the tax-exempt status of the Mormon Church did you and your extremely racist congregants "discover" a "new" interpretation which allowed blacks to join you as priests. Please explain for us why it took so long for you and your fellow racists to make a "disavowal."

And aside from "disavowing," what have you done to atone for your personal history of racism? May we see exactly how much money you have donated to the NAACP, Urban League and other associations dedicated to advancing the equality African-Americans? Not just in the years you are running for political office, but every year. By the way, Mitt, how many blacks do you deign to employ at Bain Capital these days? Donald Trump gives jobs to tens of thousands of blacks and hispanics in his varied businesses; do you, Mitt Romney, employ even a few hundred? Or just as in the last election, are you all bluster and no backbone? Now do you see how precarious it is to begin throwing around terms like "racism"?

When this country was rid of Romney from the public square last time due to his weakness and cowardly campaigning we all were more than pleased to see him go. Until today, most of us were willing to let him slink off like a whipped dog without saying very much to shame him in defeat. However by his pretentious speech this afternoon he has proved he has learned nothing and is nothing less than a miserably sore loser - such foes deserve no mercy and no kid gloves.

Mitt Romney, you are a pathetic excuse for a man and a sorry example of an American; a delusional plutocrat who falsely equates his bank account with broad intellectualism.

Now, Mitt, sit down and shut up. Don't force us to embarrass you any more. In short, please just go away.

Guy Somerset

Guy Somerset writes from somewhere in America. He is a lawyer by profession.