It sounds like a juicy story. Senator Mitt Romney, the biggest Republican punching bag for Trump-supporting conservatives, has connections to Burisma! A former adviser joined their board months after Hunter Biden left! Romney’s kids or other family members may be involved! He’s covering up for himself because he’s going to get busted along with Biden, Pelosi, and anyone else we don’t like! It’s wonderful!
Except, that’s not the real story. Many of us want it to be the story because he’s now signalling he may try to block Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chair Ron Johnson from starting a new probe into Burisma. We WANT Romney to show that he is a self-serving, corrupt politician and this Burisma cover-up narrative plays to our desires.
Mitt Romney, a member of Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, told me of Chairman Ron Johnson’s Burisma probe: “There's no question but the appearance of looking at Burisma appears political. And I think people are tired of these kind of political investigations”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 5, 2020
Romney isn’t planning to shield Burisma to protect his family, advisers, or himself. He’s shielding Burisma to protect Hunter (and by proxy, Joe) Biden because Romney believes Biden is the best shot the Democrats have of defeating President Trump. That’s it. There’s no conspiracy here, at least not one worth pursuing. We must not, as conservatives, allow our zeal for ending Romney’s political career cloud our judgment and hide the bigger picture. It’s already bad enough that he’s an operative for the Democratic Party and a closet supporter of Joe Biden. If Biden is the nominee when the general election comes around, Romney will come out of the closet and formally endorse him.
By no means am I suggesting there are no connections between Romney and Burisma. There clearly are. But if nobody associated with Romney had ever been to Ukraine or heard of Burisma, his actions during impeachment and now would be absolutely the same. It’s not a motivating factor for him. All he sees is the downfall of the man he hates, the man won what Romney thought was rightfully his.
If Romney’s motives were self-protection or protection for his family, he would not have voted in favor of removing the President during the Senate impeachment trial. People who are hiding something don’t draw more attention to it. No, Romney’s goals for voting in favor of impeachment are the same goals he has now if he blocks the investigation into Burisma. He hates President Trump and will do whatever he can to make Biden the next occupant of the Oval Office.
There is plenty for us to attack about Romney. If he blocks an investigation into Burisma, it will be a perfect opportunity to continue to ask the question, “What are Democrats (and Romney) hiding about Joe Biden and Ukrainian corruption?”
That’s the story here. Conflating his loose attachments to Burisma with his actions to block the investigation actually harms the proper narrative that many, many people are protecting Biden, including our least favorite “Republican” Senator. The Swamp, the Deep State, and the DNC all want us to look away from Burisma. There’s absolutely no need to bump Romney into the picture when all attention should be placed on Biden himself. Romney’s a side story. Biden is the real target here.
I’m not averse to conspiracy theories, but claiming Romney is covering up his connections to Burisma is counterproductive. Oftentimes, the real answer is the simplest one. He hates President Trump and will block any attempts to take down Joe Biden.
