Arriving in Washington for his new gig as Utah's junior senator, Mitt Romney jumped right in to revert to form, putting out a Washington Post attack op-ed decrying President Trump's lack of "character" and calling on Republicans to reach across the aisle.

Gad, his act is old.

Here Trump has given us the best economy in decades, and Mitt has almost nothing to say about it other than that he agrees with it. Trump also never wavered on the appointment of Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh and has fought like a lion to get more constitutionally minded judges appointed. Trump chipped away at the nightmare of Obamacare, starting with an end to its vile poverty tax slapped onto the Americans who could not afford its costly one-size-fits all offerings. And he's fighting like heck for a wall with which to restore the integrity of U.S. borders. And contrary to Romney's op-ed claims about U.S. allies no longer loving us, a lot of our allies love us – just ask Italy, Hungary, Poland, Israel, or Brazil. As for the ones who don't (and as France shows, it's just the leaders who don't like Trump, not the yellow-vest protesters), why do we want the love of such detested political leaders? These are people who hate us, and who hate their own people, too, allowing Muslim hordes from stone-age cultures to descend upon them, feed at their welfare troughs and sex-harass their women, turning vast swathes of Europe into no-go zones. Meantime, get a load of how friendly things are now with Brazil. Heck, get a load of how civil things are with socialist Mexico. Take a look at the de-fanging of North Korea. Is Trump supposed to have warm, friendly, back-slapping relations with leaders of hellholes such as Cuba and Venezuela? Is he supposed to do whatever Angela Merkel or Theresa May wants him to do? He's chosen to make friends with the people who stand for things – in Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, as well as Italy, Hungary, and much of Eastern Europe. A few allies seem to be annoyed at Trump, but they hated Trump from the beginning, and they're all politically on the way out. Romney's charge that Trump has turned America's back on allies is not only ridiculous, but sounds like the thinking of someone who reads Tom Friedman and only Tom Friedman on foreign affairs. So out of touch.

Now he's backtracking. Same old Mitt.

It shows that his potshot against Trump bombed, particularly with Republicans, who were all out there and ready to be his friend but can now see that he's got other priorities, such as filling the towering boots of...Jeff Flake.

Man, that is making him unpopular.

Here's what his own niece, Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, had to tweet about it: "For an incoming Republican freshman senator to attack @realdonaldtrump as their first act feeds into what the Democrats and media want and is disappointing and unproductive[.]"

Here is how Newt Gingrich responded: "The Senate doesn't care who you used to be."

Here is what Rand Paul told Fox News, as transcribed by RealClearPolitics: "I don't know how it really helps anybody's cause for people to stand up there like they're holier than thou," Paul told FOX News' Neil Cavuto. "And it's like, look at me, how virtuous I am. And I`m going to bring down the presidency by criticizing his character in front of the whole nation." "It does nobody any good," he added. "And, in the end, I think it's going to look petty, and I think there's going to be a backlash to this."

Here is what Lindsey Graham had to say:

What I want Sen. Romney to know, it's not just about Trump – it's about us[.] ... And remember what they tried to do to you, Mitt, when they got through with you? You were a bad guy. The truth is, you're a good guy, but in their world you will always be a bad guy if you try to cross them on policy.

After that barrage – everyone just loathing Romney's tired diatribe – Romney is now backtracking, starting with the absurd claim that he "wants to be clear." Sorry, pal, when you have to "be clear" after an attack like that, you're obviously beating a retreat.

Now he's saying he will play nice, sometimes. Oh, gad, same thing Kyrsten Sinema says.

Such a smarmy, self-righteous, and utterly boring opening number. Did he really think such a politically tone-deaf attack would make him popular? It shows that Mitt hasn't changed a bit in all these years. Just as Trump can be best understood as a typical hotel chain owner running his empire like a Detroit fire department, resolving crisis after crisis and not being subtle about it, Romney can best be understood as something less sympathetic: as the sneaky management consultant ensconced with the corporate honchos upstairs, plotting how many "useless" workers to lay off.

People don't like that.

President Trump has said that if Romney had fought President Obama as hard as he fights against Trump, he'd be president today. It's true enough, but the backtrack is obviously Romney's style, proof that he never would have made a good president. With this latest failed attack, we now we know why he didn't win. He doesn't "get" winning.

Image credit: CNN screen shot.