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3) “C’est Moi” is how Romney confirmed to a reporter that he was Delecto and Delecto was him.
Truly epic stuff. But before we just laugh off the whole thing, let’s dive a little deeper into Romney’s decision to start (and maintain) this account. Because there’s a kernel of something important here.
“He explained that he uses a secret Twitter account — ‘What do they call me, a lurker?’ — to keep tabs on the political conversation. ‘I won’t give you the name of it,’ he said, but ‘I’m following 668 people.'”
For the most part, they represent an attempt by Romney through Pierre Delecto to make the case that he remains one of the few principled Republicans left in Washington.
In one response to criticism of Romney from liberal commentator Soledad O’Brien, Pierre noted that Romney (AKA him) was the “only Republican to hit” Trump on the Mueller Report and defended his “moral compass.” In another, Delecto defended Romney from a Twitter onslaught by Washington Post blogger and Trump critic Jennifer Rubin.
The most important of Delecto’s 10 tweets was a response to Fox News commentator Brit Hume that questioned Romney’s loyalty to party. “Loyal to principle trumps loyalty to party or person, right Brit?” asked Delecto/Romney.
But there’s bit more here, too. Think about this: The 2012 Republican presidential nominee — and a sitting US senator! — felt the need to defend his commitment to his party from behind the veneer of a fake person’s account on Twitter.
While Pierre is right that Romney has been more willing than most Republican elected officials to publicly criticize Trump, it’s also true that Romney hasn’t a) been all that critical of Trump or b) done anything to put his discomfort with Trump into action.
Instead, he’s used a fake Twitter person to defend himself and his image. Which works nicely as a metaphor for how elected Republican officials, more broadly, are dealing with Trump: light criticism (at most) in public and open anger, frustration and near-rebellion behind the scenes or covered by the anonymity of quotes without their names attached.
Which, last time I checked, doesn’t have any actual impact on either President Donald Trump or the fate of the party he continues to lead with reckless abandon.
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