Utah U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney speaks to students at the University of Utah in a discussion moderated by Rick Larsen, president and CEO of the Sutherland Institute, on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Sutherland Institute)
What does the national debt and professional wrestling have in common? Not much, in literal terms. However, in Republican Utah Sen. Mitt Romney’s view, the performative nature of the sport is similar to what has led to an almost $36 trillion deficit, thanks to politics in Washington, D.C. that have been all for show.
A lot of what happens publicly in national politics is a performance, Romney said during an event put on by the conservative think tank Sutherland Institute at the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics in the last months of his tenure.
And that performative governing could represent a step back for the country’s national security, he said.
“It’s different than it used to be, because people used to go to Washington to debate, create policy, do things that made a difference for the country,” Romney told a group of mostly University of Utah students. “But it seems like we’re getting more and more people who are there to perform, and the better you perform, and the more outrageous the things are that you say, the more followers you get.”
Though it may at some point be entertaining, the performance has led to increased spending and the accumulation of almost $36 trillion in debt. And the about $1 trillion in interest the country is committed to pay for that debt, Romney said, could be used to buy four times the amount of military hardware that the country has in stock, or could double social security payments to seniors.
“The professional wrestlers have kept us from dealing with the debt that we have, and it keeps going up and up and up. Interest is going to keep going up, and you will pay it all of your lives,” he said to the students. “We’re going to be dead. We’re not paying it off. You guys get to pay that interest forever.”
Utah U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney speaks to students at the University of Utah on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Sutherland Institute)
In the meantime, he said, world powers, such as China, thrive and expand their military stock at a faster pace, while the U.S. is “kind of in retreat,” the senator said, facing new challenges like artificial intelligence and lacking a strategy to deal with other countries.
Additionally, as China also competes with the U.S. in various industries, often producing cheaper products with a “predatory pricing monopoly,” dominating extraction and processing of raw materials such as lithium, cobalt and nickel, Romney said, they should play by the same rules and standards if they want access to U.S. money.
“I think the tariffs on Chinese products, where the Chinese have used predatory pricing or established monopolies, is the right thing to do,” Romney said later to reporters. “So tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles? Yes, absolutely. Substantial tariffs.”
It would take an extraordinary leader to readjust and realign the country, Romney said, though he doesn’t see that immediately on the horizon, he said. But it could also take a crisis that must be resolved or a rising generation that creates change.
Election interference
Though intelligence agencies have briefed the government on bots and social media activity from foreign entities designed to spread anger, conspiracy theories and rumors to incite distrust in American institutions, the interference doesn’t have an impact on voting itself, Romney said, as the country’s election tabulation systems are not connected to the internet, so there’s not a way to manipulate results.
However, misinformation during the election has been pervasive, and not just foreign forces have taken part of it.
“I mean, former President Trump told us that the people in Springfield are eating dogs and cats. He likewise said that FEMA money, or emergency money, instead of helping the people that have been hit by the hurricane, is being used to help illegals. I mean, he just makes it up,” Romney said. “And so he is able to spew enough disinformation that the Chinese must be smiling.”
Though Vice President Kamala Harris has also said things that have been inaccurate, he said Trump “when it comes to a holiday from the truth, he’s taken the longest vacation.”
A student asks a question of Utah U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney during a discussion at the University of Utah on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Sutherland Institute)
Romney has been one of Trump’s biggest critics. He voted twice for Trump’s impeachment and has said repeatedly he will not be voting with his party this presidential election. When asked by a student why he doesn’t take part in more outspoken movements endorsing Harris — similar to some of his Republican colleagues — he said, a major consideration is his ability to remain influential in the party.
“I made it very clear that I don’t want Donald Trump to be the next president of the United States, and you’re going to get a very difficult calculation of what that would mean,” he said, prompting laughs from the audience.
He kept his response focused on the future of his own party, not addressing how he feels about Harris’ ability to lead.
“I want to continue to have a voice in the Republican Party following this election,” he said, “because I think there’s a good shot that the Republican Party is going to need to be rebuilt and reoriented.”
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