A lot of people have short memories when it comes to politics. Politicians often exploit this fact, but sometimes it works against them. That’s what happened to Mitt Romney earlier this week.
As part of his campaign for the Senate, he told a Republican group in Provo, Utah, that he was “more of a hawk on immigration than even the president.” As McKay Coppins notes in The Atlantic, the remark came as a rude shock to people who dislike President Donald Trump in important part because he wants tougher laws on immigration and who had thought well of Romney because he refused to endorse Trump in 2016. Utah Republicans have a reputation for being softer on the issue than Trump, adding to the surprise.
It turned out, though, that Romney is still the same man who, during his presidential run in 2012, said that illegal immigrants should be encouraged to go home (“self-deport”) rather than get legal status.
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