The Scorpion and the Frog

Once again, Mitt Romney
stabbed the Republicans in the back.

But he cannot help himself; it’s just his nature.

Patriot Retort

I’m sure you all know the story of the scorpion and the frog.

If you are unfamiliar with it, I’ll recount it for you.

A scorpion says to a frog, “Hey, do me a favor and endorse me in my Senate race in Utah.”

The frog is naturally skeptical.  He tells the scorpion, “You know, I endorsed you in your run for President and then when I was running for President, you stabbed me in the back with your stinger thing.  You attacked me and urged people not to vote for me.”

The scorpion smiles his plastic smile and says, “Okay, yeah.  But it’s different now.  If you endorse me in Utah and I get to the Senate, I won’t stab you in the back with my stinger thing because if I did, it would hurt me with the voters who elected me.”

So against his better judgment, the frog agrees.  He gives his endorsement and the scorpion wins the election.

But even before he’s sworn in, the scorpion raises his stinger thing and stabs the frog in the back – writing a scathing op-ed in the Washington Post.

Then when WhistleblowerGate first happened on the scene, the scorpion once again reared back and stabbed the frog in the back — sanctimoniously calling the frog “appalling.”

Well, yesterday, the scorpion struck again – this time voting to convict the frog for the non-crime of “abuse of power.”

The frog, and all of the frog’s supporters are stunned.  “Why would you do this after you begged the frog to endorse you?!”

The scorpion wryly answers, “I can’t help myself.  It’s my nature.”

Okay, that version of the story may be just a bit different from the one you know – and not just because you thought it was a turtle and not a frog.

But the moral of the story is the same.

Yesterday evening I was talking to my dad about Mitt Romney’s vote to convict.  And I said to him it’s Mitt’s nature.

It’s who he is.

I didn’t expect Mitt Romney to be anything but a scorpion.

And I knew that Mitt would couch his back-stabbing in a sanctimoniously insufferable speech in which he cast himself in the role of a “principled” man.

It’s his nature.

As Erielle Davidson said in her column over at the Federalist yesterday:

Romney’s decision was terrifically predictable, and given his vote did not swing the results in either direction, the gravitas that he already assigned to his decision — in the form of two interview “exclusives” — seems a bit theatrical and self-indulgent. There’s an unshakeable self-satisfaction that Romney exudes when he goes on heavy-headed tours, demarcating to the adoring left how he is decidedly different from all the other GOP members.

Yes, he’s different from many others within the GOP in the sense that he has no firm principles upon which to base his political decisions besides self-interest and self-importance.

It’s his nature.

It’s who he is.

And we all knew this vote to convict was coming.

Just like his vote to call new witnesses, Romney’s vote yesterday was about self-promotion.  As I said last week, he is easily manipulated by fawning media coverage. He craves the praise and adoration of those who loathe Republicans.

And within an instant of announcing his vote to convict, Romney got what he wanted.  The press hails him.  Democrats praise him.  Celebrities issue huzzahs in his direction.

All the people who hated him in 2012 are having a collective orgasm over Romney today.

Like the rest of the scorpions in the NeverTrump movement, praise from all the wrong corners is what matters.

And the easiest more effortless way to get that praise is to stab President Trump and the Republican Party in the back.

Anyone who is shocked or disappointed is forgetting who and what Mitt Romney is.

He’s a scorpion.

This is his nature.

And in the end, it means nothing.

President Trump is acquitted.  The Democrat impeachment coup failed.

All that Romney got out of it was fawning press and furious voters.

But it won’t hurt him.  Even if the people of Utah rage against his betrayal, there’s nothing they can do to touch him.  His term isn’t up until 2024.  The voters in Utah are powerless here, and Mitt knows it.  It’s why he did it — to thumb his nose at the people who put him in office while smirking over their inability to stop him.

Well, that, and to earn the praise of Democrats, Hollywood and the news media.

Because like John McCain before him, Mitt would rather have the approval of the Left than the support of his own constituents.

That too is his nature.