Hope do spring eternal, don't it? Politico has the latest pipe dream.

Even as he faces a barrage of attacks from the president and his allies, Romney is mapping out plans to play a central role in 2020 — headlining party events, shelling out cash from his campaign war chest, and hitting up his donor network for vulnerable senators on the ballot next year.

Later this month, Romney will take his most aggressive step yet to insert himself into the 2020 campaign when he hosts a New York City fundraiser for Maine Sen. Susan Collins, Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner and Michigan Senate hopeful John James. All are establishment-aligned figures confronting tough races in swing states. Behind the scenes, Romney’s team has also begun directing his donors to help GOP candidates in Senate battlegrounds.

Remember always the First Rule of Romneys: They are Romneys, and everyone else is The Help. How in god's name is this in any way taking on the president*? Keeping the evanescent presence of Collins and Gardner in the Senate benefits them both. Let's see what else Willard is about these days.

The senator is stepping up after Trump just unleashed a withering assault on the 2012 GOP nominee over his refusal to rule out supporting impeachment. Over the weekend, Trump called the Utah senator a “pompous ‘ass,’” who is “so bad for Rs.” The president added that Romney was “playing right into the hands” of Democrats and tweeted out a video of him losing the 2012 election.

Trump’s allies are piling on. Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani said Romney was “bitter about Donald Trump” winning the White House. Conservative radio show host Rush Limbaugh told listeners that Romney is determined to “get rid of Trump.” And Donald Trump Jr. said that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is “much tougher than Mittens.”



The senator further infuriated the Trump team when he called the president’s appeal to China to investigate Joe Biden “wrong and appalling.”

Why do they laugh at his mighty sword?

Romney is standing up to Trump by raising money for Trump’s political allies in the Senate, like Susan Collins. The Washington Post Getty Images

Romney is shrugging it all off. On Thursday evening, he hosted a fundraiser for the Utah Republican Party, an organization that's been plagued by financial and organizational troubles. Within the state’s political circles, the event was considered particularly noteworthy because conservatives formerly involved in the state GOP apparatus vocally opposed Romney’s 2018 Senate bid.

Romney’s presence at the Salt Lake City dinner, held at the home of real estate executive Scott Keller, is designed to provide encouragement to mainstream Republicans who’ve long felt alienated from the state party. The Utah GOP is trying to rebuild itself following midterm elections that saw Republicans lose a congressional seat and a half-dozen state legislative seats.

Why does everyone laugh at his mighty sword?

Romney's aides are aware that his fundraising help may not be welcomed by every Republican candidate. But the three beneficiaries of the New York City event have shown a willingness to demonstrate independence from the president. Trump lost Maine and Colorado in 2016, and the president’s reelection aides are increasingly pessimistic about his odds in Michigan.

“I think there is definitely a role for him to play,” said Boyd Matheson, an opinion editor at the Deseret News newspaper who has been in touch with Romney via text message, “especially in the purple states where Trump isn’t doing especially well.”



Look, the one thing Romney could do right now, today, to help with our most immediate problem is to announce that, if and when it comes to it, he will vote to convict the president* on articles of impeachment that emerge from the House. Of course, that would put his political future at least theoretically at risk, and, my dear people, that simply is not done. Instead, we get a cloud of trial balloons like this one describing how Romney sees his role in the defense of democracy as a defense of his future political prospects. That's no surprise. It's been the only consistent thing about his entire political career.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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