Even so, the president’s quick embrace of Romney — appearing to set aside the vitriol of 2016 — seems to suggest that he’s willing to overlook past transgressions for the sake of building a Republican coalition capable of winning the midterms. If that’s the case, that calculation would be a huge shift for Trump, and a welcome one for GOP lawmakers handcuffed by the slim Senate majority and concerned about losing the House to Democrats in November.
Perhaps Trump has realized that, if he wishes to sign major legislation into law beyond last December’s tax reform, he’ll need more than 51 GOP senators to get the job done. Alternatively, perhaps the president suspected that Romney might be able to win in Utah even without his support and wanted to preempt that possibility by getting on board early so that he can claim credit come November.
