Mitt Romney and the Crisis of Conservatism

How McKay Coppins’ new biography of the one-time presidential nominee reveals the bigger questions facing the conservative movement.

I recently finished McKay Coppins’ new biography of Mitt Romney, Romney: A Reckoning. It’s a very good book, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand more about this steadfast member of the Republican Party, the man who ran against Obama in 2008 (after serving as Governor of Massachusetts), then went on to become the Senator from Utah and one of the most vocal critics of Donald Trump both before and, sometimes, during his presidency. Coppins is unsparing in his examination in this walking contradiction of a political figure, someone who was far too willing to carry water for the extremes of his party when it was convenient to do so but also maintained a series of core principles that shaped his political life.

In some ways it’s hard not to feel sorry for Romney. Say what you will about him, but as Coppins demonstrates he is someone who truly does believe in the values of conservatism as they used to be practiced by the GOP: self-restraint, fiscal responsibility, public decorum. Unfortunately for Romney — and, I think, for all of us — this sort of conservatism is very much a minority in today’s Republican…