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🚨 POLL: Should Romney Leave the GOP?
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Romney: ‘The Key in Leadership Is Recognizing When You’re Not the Smartest Guy in the Room’
🚨 POLL: Should Romney Leave the GOP?
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Mitt Romney has openly scrutinized President Trump for his reaction to the coronavirus pandemic, saying that his initial response was not a ‘great moment in American leadership,’ according to The Daily Mail.
Romney also criticized Trump’s decision to cease funding to the World Health Organization, and said a more centralized approach from the federal government would have been ‘more effective.’
“The key in leadership is recognizing when you’re not the smartest guy in the room.”
“In a setting like this I think it’s important for the people at the top to recognize that there are always people out there with more information.”
“You want to bring them in and divide responsibility and have them manage… with that we’re not where we ought to be.”
“The first phase which was getting ready to respond clearly we were not in a position of extraordinary strength,” he said.
“We did not have the testing as fast as we could have or should have. We did not have the personal protective equipment we would have hoped to have. I think part of that is just the recognition that in many cases American companies – multinational companies – are producing these products elsewhere, typically in China.”
“They had the crisis first, so they got the PPE – we did not.”
“That’s just in terms of crisis management – the willingness of the federal government to step in and coordinate everything from PPE to testing to repair of our hospital systems and so forth – none of those things really stood out as being great moments in american leadership.”
“I think the world was a bit surprised by that as they think of us as the nation that first went to the moon and accomplished extraordinary things in the new economy,” he said.
“And yet when it came to PPE and to testing and the speed of our response it looks slow relative to things like South Korea, Singapore, China, Germany and even Sweden – so that phase is not one that will not stand out as being a great moment of American leadership.”
More from Daily Mail
A ‘more centralized, coordinated effort’ across the US to ensure tests and medical supplies got to the areas that needed them most would have been more effective than Trump encouraging every state to take a separate approach the pandemic, Romney continued.
The Senator was the only Republican to vote to impeach Trump for abuse of power during his trial in February.
The two were once allies, with Trump endorsing Romney in his 2012 presidential campaign and appearing alongside him during the race for the White House.
But when Romney failed to be elected, Trump changed tact saying Romney had ‘never connected with the people’ and later saying he shouldn’t run again.
During Trump’s own White House race, Romney retaliated criticizing his campaign triggering a Twitter spat between them.
— Advertisement — But when Trump was elected, the president said he was considering Romney for secretary of state before backtracking.
