Mitt Romney and the White Horse Prophecy

Mitt Romney and the White Horse Prophecy

I’ve never been much of a Mitt Romney fan.

Even when he was put in place as figurehead of the 2002 Winter Olympics, I thought it was nothing much more than a vanity appointment — a milquetoast, squeaky-clean face in place to absolve the sins of scandal that had rocked the Salt Lake City Organizing Committee. (Salt Lake Organizing Committee members gave about $1 million in bribes to International Olympic Committee members to land the Olympic Games, resulting in the immediate resignations of Tom Welch and David Johnson, who headed up the bid, as well as the expulsion or sanction of 20 more members.)

In his youth while attending Stanford, Romney was what we referred to as a chicken hawk — somebody who pushed for advancing the war in Vietnam but did not have the cojones to enlist and do battle in Southeast Asia. Romney was part of pro-war demonstrations but opted out of military service. Instead of toting a rifle through the jungles of Vietnam, he carried The Book of Mormon through France while serving a church mission.

Politically, he was at one time what would be considered a moderate Democrat and then an independent before swinging to the dark side when he thought he had an opportunity to knock off Ted Kennedy and take his Senate seat. It didn’t work. But later, he later was successful in his bid to become governor of Massachusetts where he signed a healthcare bill that was remarkably similar to the Affordable Care Act.

Romney was a key player in the Bain company where he helped create Bain Capital, an outfit that specialized in taking failing companies, leaning them down through layoffs to make them “profitable” — at least on paper — and then selling them off.

There were two failed stabs at the presidency — one he lost in the primaries to John McCain and the other in the finals to Barack Obama  — before he returned to Utah. His ties to the Beehive State, like those of Jon Huntsman, can be traced to Parley Pratt, who founded Parowan. And that, plus the “R” behind his name on the ballot, helped him to succeed Orrin Hatch in the U.S. Senate.

Now, not even one year into his term, he finds himself in hot water with Utah voters, even though they gave him 62 percent of the vote in 2018.

His approval ratings today sit at 46 percent. The numbers were collected shortly after the president attacked Romney for his criticism of the administration’s troop removal in Syria and his support of an impeachment inquiry into the president’s activity with Ukraine leaders, who he illegally encouraged to investigate the Biden family.

Of course, there has been bad blood between the president and Romney since before the election when he was critical of the president’s lack of a moral compass. It didn’t stop him from sidling up to the administration when he was rumored to be a candidate for Secretary of State, an appointment everybody but Romney seemed to realize would never happen. He continues to inflame the president for not falling in lockstep with Republicans in support, instead daring to seek truth and justice, which resulted in the president calling him a “pompous ass.”

This obviously has not settled well with Utah voters, as we see in polling results. But Utah voters have slipped into a brand of neo-conservatism that led them to give the boot to Bob Bennett, one of the most traditional Republican voices in the Senate, and that also encouraged Hatch to give up his seat rather than suffer an embarrassing defeat in the primaries.

This strain of conservatism doesn’t fully fit into the president’s mold, although fringe adherents are part of the administration’s base. It more accurately fits the Tea Party fanaticism that struck back when Sarah Palin was thumping the beat when McCain screwed up and lost an election by putting her on the ticket as running mate. Had he gone more traditional in his choice, Obama would probably still be a member of the Senate.

Despite this, Romney doesn’t have much to worry about in the long term.

When the president eventually returns to his status as Citizen Trump, preferably sooner than later, Romney could be looked upon as the most important Republican to place country before party in this political drama — a role he would share with the late Sen. Barry Goldwater, who convinced Richard Nixon that it was time to go.

Goldwater was a straight-shooter statesman who, despite his radical political leanings, understood the trauma that the nation would endure if impeachment proceedings continued. Of course, even during his drunken ramblings through the hallways of the White House, Nixon had a better grasp of reality than the guy who wolfs down Big Macs in the Lincoln bedroom these days.

Interestingly, Romney’s opposition to the president may be based on his Mormon beliefs rather than politics.

For years, although not a piece of “official” Mormon doctrine, the White Horse Prophecy was a big part of the church.

According to church lore, in 1843 church founder Joseph Smith, while standing in front of the dramatic Benjamin West painting titled “Death On The Pale Horse,” said that someday the Constitution of the United States will hang by a thread and a Mormon, or a group of Mormons, will save the nation.

When asked about it a dozen years ago, Romney downplayed the whole thing.

“I haven’t heard my name associated with anything of that nature,” he said at the time. “I don’t put it at the heart of my religious beliefs.”

Still, we eerily see ourselves in a situation where the Constitution of the United States is indeed hanging by a thread and a Mormon leader sits poised to oppose those who have attacked it.

Coincidence? Maybe. Probably. It depends on your beliefs and perspective.

But whether Romney believes he is the one to fulfill the White Horse Prophecy or is just voicing the stirrings of his conscience, he needs to prove his mettle and not back down from this confrontation with the president. He could be the cornerstone of Republican support of impeachment hearings, an integral piece of bringing guidance and a much-needed moral compass to a Republican Party gone astray.

At best, the nation is diving into turbid waters and a period of social, cultural, and — most definitely — political unrest.

We will need calm but firm voices to guide us. Let’s hope Mitt is one of those voices.

Courage.

The viewpoints expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.

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