Consider one of its most infamous moments. In 2007, Mitt Romney fired up the crowd for upcoming speaker Ann Coulter, who then used her speech to call Democratic Senator John Edwards a “f—got.”

That scene is instructive now. Romney knew the risks of appearing with Coulter, who famously responded to the 9/11 terror attack with a call to “invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.” By praising Coulter onstage, Romney lent her credibility and received authenticity in exchange.

Nine years later, Romney delivered an impassioned speech on Thursday rallying Republicans to stop Trump, who is enthusiastically backed by Coulter. But Romney’s message was undermined by his decision in 2012 to accept an endorsement from Trump in person in Las Vegas despite Trump’s race-baiting campaign to prove Obama was secretly born in Kenya. Trump boasted after this week’s speech that the former nominee would have “dropped to his knees” to beg for his backing.