Senator Mitt Romney of Utah delivered a sobering warning on the vulnerability of American democracy to more than 200 Republican donors at a dinner in Northern Virginia on Monday night.
Romney informed the gathering that he had a chart in his Senate office detailing the development of civilizations over the past 4,000 years, according to five participants. He said it’s a reminder of how quickly they can rise and fall, as well as how unique American democracy is in the world.
From the Mongol Empire to the Roman Empire, autocracy has been the “default setting,” according to Romney, with authoritarian rulers at every turn.
According to the guests at the Hilton Hotel in McLean, Romney remarked, “We are really the only meaningful experiment in democracy, and sustaining liberal democracy is a tremendous task.”
As the US confronts Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and former President Donald Trump continues to exert power inside the Republican Party, attendees described Romney, the GOP’s 2012 presidential nominee, as delivering the remarks as a warning to the group, which included many longtime members of the Republican establishment.
Romney gave the opening remarks at a private event for Wyoming Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney. Cheney is facing a primary challenge from Harriet Hageman, a Trump loyalist who has received the endorsement of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California.
Cheney, a Trump opponent, is the vice head of a House select committee looking into the January 6th attack on the US Capitol and Trump’s participation in trying to prevent President Joe Biden’s victory from being certified.
Trump has been enraged with Cheney since she voted to impeach him after the attack last year. She was a member of the House Republican leadership at the time.
Romney characterized the survival of American democracy as a war on two fronts, with the risk of considerable loss unless leaders are watchful, during Monday night’s dinner, which generated over $526,000 for Cheney.
It confronts dangers from Russian President Vladimir Putin on the international stage, he added, who is following an authoritarian script “rehearsed again and time again, spanning many thousands of years of human history.”
“The strengths of our institutions, the rule of law, our courts, Congress, and so forth have protected us from falling in with the same type of autocratic leader as Vladimir Putin,” Romney said at home.
“”People of character and bravery have spoken up for what is right when others want to look away,” Romney remarked. Liz Cheney is one of these people.”