“The Guy Looks Like He’s Got Toothache When Taking Selfies With Voters” Lambasts Romney of ‘Cold’ DeSantis

William FurneyOct 22, 2023

Minute Read

Outgoing Republican Senator Mitt Romney has laid into presidential contender Ron DeSantis for looking awkward when taking selfies with voters.

‘A Bit Fake’

Image Credit: Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.

Romney — a one-term Iowa senator who has announced he will not be running in next year’s elections, saying that at 76 he’s “too old” — criticized his fellow republican and Florida governor for essentially putting on an act with voters in Iowa.

‘Painful’ Expression

Romney, who is a multimillionaire venture capitalist and former Massachusetts governor, observed that DeSantis wore a painful look when he was taking photographs with voters.

“He looks like he’s got a toothache. There’s just no warmth at all.”

DeSantis ‘Smarter’ Than Trump

Editorial credit: Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.

In what seemed like a compliment for the embattled governor, Romney said DeSantis, 45, was “smarter than [former President Donald] Trump,” but he then appeared to lash out at him again, wondering if there might be a “peril to having someone who’s smart and pulling in a direction that’s dangerous.”

Falling in the Polls

DeSantis had been the main rival to Trump in seeking the Republican Party’s nomination for the 2024 presidential election. But amid some early missteps, his campaign failed to gain traction and he slid down in the polls. The latest polling puts the Florida governor at just 13.4 percent compared to Trump’s sizable lead of 57.4 percent of Republicans who say they will vote for him to be the GOP presidential candidate.

Hitting Back

The DeSantis campaign said on X, formerly called Twitter, that Romney — a former presidential candidate — was all talk, no action.

“Mitt Romney warns that Ron DeSantis is ‘dangerous’ and ‘authoritarian,’ presumably because he has enacted conservative policy instead of just talking about it.”

‘Robotic Romney’

People on X chimed in with their own views of the spat, with one user, under the handle Sarcasm as a Service, saying:

“I still remember Romney during the 2012 cycle. He got accused of being too robotic, so the very next speech he tried smiling… and we all realized that maybe there were worse things than being called robotic.”

Romney ‘the Stiffest’

Another person reacted: “I didn’t know being stiffer than Mitt Romney was even possible.”

‘Enough Already’

Still another X user suggested laying off the Florida governor.

“No warmth? Is that a requirement now? Give me a break with this guy.”

Romney Biography

A new biography of Romney that hits the bookshelves next week but extracts of which have been published in the media says he considered teaming up with right-wing Republican Senator Ted Cruz in a bid to thwart enemy Trump from becoming president. That was despite Romney having branded Cruz “scary” and a “demagogue.”

‘Do What It Takes’

Romney was “willing to wage a quixotic and humiliating presidential bid if that’s what it took” to prevent Trump from getting to the White House, according to the book, Romney: A Reckoning by McKay Coppins.

An ‘Ultimately Failed Bid’

An extract from the biography says: “But Romney didn’t think the gambit would actually succeed in taking down Trump. The problem was that no one else in the party seemed to know what to do about Trump either.”

A Trump Win

Trump went on to win the GOP nomination in 2016 and then won the presidency later that year, beating Hillary Clinton. But he failed to be re-elected in 2020, instead losing to Joe Biden, in an election Trump insisted was “rigged” and “stolen” from him. His refusal to accept defeat led to rioting by his supporters at the US Capitol in January 2021, and five people died in the violence.

Winfrey-Romney Ticket?

The new Romney biography makes another startling claim: that talk show queen Oprah Winfrey suggested to Romney that they pair up and make a run for the White House as independents in the 2020 election.

‘Trump-Defeating Move’

A presidential campaign by Romney with Winfrey as his running mate would be the best way of ensuring Trump was not re-elected, because the Democrats were not up to the task, the book claims Winfrey suggested to Romney.

‘Muddled Facts’

But a spokesperson for Winfrey said the author had gotten the wrong end of the stick.

“In November 2019, Ms. Winfrey called Senator Romney to encourage him to run on an Independent ticket. She was not calling to be part of the ticket and was never considering running herself,” the representative told The New York Times.