Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said Wednesday he would “absolutely not” vote for former President Trump over President Biden in November, pointing to Trump’s foreign policy views and his character.

“No. No, no, absolutely not,” Romney told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source” when asked whether he would support Trump over Biden.

Romney explained there are “two factors” — policy and character — he is using to decide “who I want to have as the leader of my country and the person who is the example of the president for my kids and my grandkids.” He said are both vital but that character is most important.

  • jeffw@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    21
    arrow-down
    78
    ·
    8 months ago

    Not voting for Trump is different from voting for Biden. Just sayin

    • rdyoung@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      72
      arrow-down
      12
      ·
      8 months ago

      Not really. The choice is between a fascist sychopant who did more damage to this country than we will likely ever know or an experienced statesman who has led the charge to undo said damage and bring us forward on many fronts. If trump had won again we would probably be chest deep in the worst depression we have ever seen and note that I said depression and not recession.

      • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        25
        arrow-down
        7
        ·
        8 months ago

        In terms of how voting math works? They are more or less the same

        In terms of actually showing an iota of backbone and giving a shit about the country? It is very different. Because if romney actually cared he would be encouraging republicans to vote for Biden and explaining that this shit has gone on too far.

        But the reality is that romney and cheney are basically going for the mccain “maverick” role. They are the good republican who has a line and cares about the country so vote for them. And then ignore when they basically vote on party lines on every single topic because they are only mad that they aren’t in charge.

        • rdyoung@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          10
          ·
          8 months ago

          Romney has made some half assed attempts but the sycophants have gone further towards the looney bin than Romney or his generation of politicians would ever have gone. Remember that they had an effigy of him on Jan 6. No one on the right these days cares about the country or anyone other than themselves. The entire republican party is now basically a pack of rabid chihuahuas, they are powered by hate, fear and loathing.

          Even if Romney and the few remaining sane repubs came out for Biden and pushed the party to get off the hate train, that train has already left the station and can not be stopped until it hits the end of the track and that will be when we finally fix the gerrymandering and prosecute enough of them for all of the crimes they have gotten away with for way too long.

    • GBU_28@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      22
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      8 months ago

      Spoken like a republican bot.

      It’s all fine to discuss future candidates but we are in a position of limited options right now, and voting for anyone but Biden is gonna help trump.

      • jeffw@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        8 months ago

        Romney isn’t voting for Biden. I agree that we all should. I have always voted for dems and always will. Obviously it’s the lesser of two evils. I didn’t say anything about my beliefs on that. I said Romney isn’t endorsing Biden.

      • jeffw@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        36
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        8 months ago

        Romney will probably never get another vote in his life, unless randos decide to write him in for stuff

        Edit: to clarify, he is retiring after this term

          • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            21
            ·
            8 months ago

            I doubt that. Democratic voters aren’t going to choose to not vote for Biden based on anything this tool says. Independent voters, on the other hand, might decide to vote for Biden if a moderate like Romney supports him.

            • TWeaK@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              8 months ago

              The bigger issue is that if Romney endorsed Biden the magats would go after him, including death threats or worse.

            • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              8
              ·
              8 months ago

              The mythical moderates (who turned out so strongly for Romney in 2012 /s) have gotten plenty of reasons to vote for Biden already, and Democratic voters have gotten tons of reasons not to. Putting even more work into the right side of the coalition while pissing all over progressives yet again could very well break the whole thing apart.

              Of course, if Romney did make an endorsement and Biden turned around and said “Voters shouldn’t allow anything this tool says to influence them, he thinks about 47% of you don’t matter at all” that would reverse the impact of this, but I’m really confidential that Biden doesn’t have the moral clarity to take that kind of stand since he loves to talk about how he has friends in the Republican party and they’re actually good people and other politically convenient lies like that.

    • Chainweasel@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      8 months ago

      It was an either or question.
      So in this particular scenario not voting for Trump would be voting for Biden.

      • jeffw@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        8 months ago

        But he never actually said that. If someone says “will you vote for Biden or Trump?” Most people answer with their choice, but he basically said “I’m not voting for Trump.” It’s dodging the question.

        • Rolder@reddthat.com
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          8 months ago

          As I recall, Biden won a number of districts last time due to Republicans voting R down ballot but leaving the president vote blank

    • TWeaK@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      9
      ·
      8 months ago

      The trouble with not voting for someone because you don’t like them is that it’s indistinguishable from any number of other positions. You aren’t influencing any form of change.

      If you’re not going to vote for either candidate, vote for a 3rd party. Your vote will still have just as little effect on the outcome of the two horse race, but at least it will more clearly portray your position.

      • GBU_28@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        8 months ago

        This isn’t debate club. In this election, there are two real choices. It sucks but many folks need to get it together and vote for what they want to see less( i.e. if you hate trump, vote Biden, even if you don’t love Biden)

        I don’t want this country to continue to slip into Alabamian christiostate, and although it’s a mess right now, Biden is the better bet to forestall or reverse that.

        • TWeaK@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          8 months ago

          i.e. if you hate trump, vote Biden, even if you don’t love Biden

          I didn’t say that wasn’t my position. That’s what people should do, because the alternative is worse.

          However, if you’re not going to vote at all, that is worse than both of those but also worse than voting for a 3rd party candidate.