January 2, 2018

Thoughts on the Orrin Hatch retirement announcement

Longest serving Republican senator, Orrin Hatch, now 83, has decided to retire. Trump loyalists worry that he is opening the door for a Trump loyalist to be replaced by a Republican Trump critic, Mitt Romney.


At his age and for his length of service, despite president Trump's ask for Hatch to run again, you can't blame him for his retirement.

Mitt Romney is undoubtedly going to run for the seat, despite no mention of it by him so far. But this is actually not such a bad thing for the president. Trump and Romney will be able to work together so long as the president can let go of his possible grudge against Romney for trashing him during the primaries. Remember, Trump interviewed Romney when he was filling secretary positions. 

My suspicion is that while Romney may have had a deal with the Jeb Bush team to torpedo Trump in exchange for a cabinet post, he and the president actually get along. If Romney runs, the senate seat will remain Republican and Trump and Romney will eventually prove to be allies despite having different views on the establishment. After all they both have a pro-business attitude and a pro-America attitude and there is a lot of common ground. It won't be a match made in Heaven but it will work. Besides, if the tax cuts and jobs bill that passed has a solid effect, one vote in the senate could be less important for the Republican agenda in the broader scheme of things.

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