Extended interview: Mitt Romney on the Republican party, his political future, Trump and more

hi I'm noro odonnell and this is Person to Person Our Guest today is Mitt Romney what a wonderful success we've all enjoyed together Mitt Romney represents Utah in the United States Senate but the 76-year-old was once the Republican party's nominee for president losing to Barack Obama in 2012 brought up in the Mormon Church Romney's faith has guided him through his entire life and political career he considers his wife and his top advisor a successful businessman Romney was brought in to turn around the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City the success of the games led to a run for governor of Massachusetts now the man who was once the standard bearer of the Republican party is a vocal critic here's what I know Donald Trump is a phony a fraud Romney recently announced he would not seek re-election to his senate seat there's a new book about his life Romney a reckoning he gave hundreds of text messages emails and diary entries to journalist McKay cins to summarize his three decades in politics so we sat down in Washington with mitt and an Romney for an intimate person-to-person [Music] conversation why did you decide to particip ipate in this biography of you well at at some point uh you know I thought someone may want to write about my experience i' intended to do it myself and then I recognized I can't be objective about my own life but I may have gone a little overboard because I gave the author all of my journals and now that I've read the book it's like oh did I did I really say that about this person oh my goodness so it's a little more revealing than I'd expected but uh but nonetheless um uh something you can you could learn about I remember my dad when he lost his campaign for president in 1968 he said my campaign was like a miniskirt short and revealing and if you had to sum up your career in politics what would it be I'll let other people uh decide that but I hope in my own view that my legacy with my children and grandchildren is thatth their dad and their grandfather fought for what he believed sometimes I was wrong S as my point of view changed because I was acquainted with new facts uh but that I stood for what I believed was right uh and that I had backbone do you recognize your own party you know I'm in a tiny tiny slice of my party now I mean I I don't in many respects have a home uh in the Republican party today the party is much more populist uh the party has attracted all sorts of folks who used to be Democrats and independents they've come into the Republican Party drawn by by a message of populism and in some respects resentment and anger and I'm still a republican because I want to bring us back to the kinds of values that have allowed us to succeed in the past but uh we'll see where we go in the future did you consider running again for president in 2016 oh people in the Senate always consider running for president I just got a message from one of my grandkids a long message about why I should get in now a very thorough analysis it's like it's absurd of course because I'm not going to do that but yeah you you consider that and and not seriously in this case in in 2024 it's not something I seriously consider but yeah I've looked at different times but you know the reality is two strikes in you're out in politics not three you were quoted in the book as saying a very large portion of my party really doesn't believe in the Constitution how did you come to that damning conclusion well when former president Trump said we should set aside the Constitution and reappoint him as president why you had Republicans cheer that it's like wait a second this is the leader of our party saying we should put aside the Constitution how can you believe you're following the Constitution if that's the case it's an outrage it violates the peaceful transfer of power uh which has been characteristic of our country from the very earliest days so uh yeah I think the evidence has been in a a pretty plain view for people across the country so how is it that Donald Trump the leading candidate for the Republican Party for president uh you know I don't begin to uh be able to understand how it is so many people uh can accept the dishonesties that have been spoken by Donald Trump I don't know how it is people go along with that but they do and I think in some respects it's like well there's our team and their team and we're going to cheer with whatever our team says uh and say that we believe it no way you'll run for president in 2024 and I can't imagine any circumstance perhaps if Godzilla comes in and removes all the other candidates and so forth but other than Godzilla stepping in no I'm not running for president that not giving it any thought not as an independent no no no discussion about it no look I I I really think that independent candidates are likely to elect Donald Trump uh and I think him being elected again would be devastating for our country and its character who do you like in the Republican field uh anybody um you know I I would uh I'd be happy to support virtually any one of the Republicans maybe not Vic but uh but the others that are running would would be acceptable to me and I'd be happy to vote for them I'd be happy to vote for number of the Democrats too I mean would be an upgrade from in my opinion from uh Donald Trump and and perhaps also from uh Joe Biden look I like President Biden um you know I I find him a very Charming engaging person there's some places I agree with him but most places I disagree with him uh I think he's made all sorts of terrible mistakes but uh I would like to see someone else run you've been chatting on the phone with President Biden recently uh he's kind enough to give me a call from time to time uh because we get along and uh and I offer my advice uh you know he is the president of the United States and I want him to be effective as long as he's there there are many in the Republican party that not only say that he's too old to be president but that he lacks the mental capability have you found that to be true in your conversations with him you know I've interacted with two old men who uh uh want to be president or have or are President both Donald Trump uh and Joe Biden I've interacted with both of them and they're both of mental capacity they have the they would pass the mental acuity test uh that I've passed and others do um look and I've negotiated with President Biden on the infrastructure Bill we met in his office and uh and talked at length on a whole series of issues uh he's mentally capable but he's older and we've had older presidents before from Dwight Eisenhower to FDR um I'm not afraid of people who are uh older uh being in positions of leadership heck the president of my church is 99 years old uh and does a fine job leading our church so I I'm okay with that but uh uh the challenge I have with President Biden is not so much his age as his policies what's your biggest regret from the 2012 campaign losing uh I would have loved to win in 2012 you wrote in your Journal that Barack Obama is gracious without genuine Grace his arrogance is breathtaking there's no question that that um Barack Obama has a high opinion of himself and um he may feel that's deserved look I found him to be a a a delightful character to be with but I don't think he had a great deal of attention to my opinion uh maybe he was wise not to have um you know I remember Bob Gates who was served under two presidents as secretaries in their administrations he was asked what is the most important quality of a president of the United States States and he said the most important quality is to recognize that you're not always the smartest person in the room I have made my career by hiring people smarter than me more capable than me and learning how to listen to them listen to people of different points of view analyze it synthesize it and then choosing what I believe is the right course um I don't think Barack Obama was inclined to listen to other people listen to himself he listened to himself I want to talk about January 6 and I did bring along just a little audiovisual Aid here but you remember this moment in the hallway where you're walking away and there's officer Goodman that tells you to run the other way yeah yeah what was that day like that was an awful day um it's not so much because I was fearful for my life that that uh was not what made it such a terrible and horrific day in my life but instead uh this was a an invasion of of the if you will the Temple of democracy the symbol of the capitalist known around the world democratic nations around the world look up to us where the leader of the Free World and to have it uh abused as it was was uh just disorienting and uh and and disgusting and I know members of your family didn't want you to come to Washington they were worried about you yeah an uh an was concerned uh and uh and felt that I should not go back uh because Donald Trump was saying hey come to Washington uh this is going to be a a momentous occasion uh and doing so on the day when peaceful transfer of power would was to occur suggested there could be violence and I do get death threats um and uh her feeling was I would not be safe and I shouldn't go and I said well th this is a constitutional moment this is a time when I have to be there and one of the reasons I ran by the way it's like why would a guy who'd run for president and lost go back and run for Senate and and one of the major reasons was I believe there was some risk that we would face a constitutional crisis or that there would be a great need for people of stability and sobriety in the Senate and we needed more like that not fewer I categorized myself in that group and thought I might be needed and that was one of the reasons I I ran for Senate so of course I was going to be there at a time when such a uh circumstance might require a person of character did you have any idea be tested the way idea that would be tested in the way it it it was uh it was unimaginable to me that we would not have had sufficient forces to repel uh a crowd storming the capital uh and I'm sure there'll be effort to understand how our failure was so severe the subtitle of the book is Reckoning is there a reckoning in the Republican Party um I don't know where the party stands well the future of the Republican party I mean it depends on whether Donald Trump gets elected president again if Donald Trump gets elected president and I give that at this stage like 50-50 odds I think he's the prohibitive favor favorite to to win the nomination if he gets elected president I mean the party is Donald Trump it's in every respect uh a reflection of his character and uh I don't know how long it would take for us to shake that image if he loses um well of course he'll say was stolen regardless of the circumstances but if he loses I think our party moves on I don't know the direction it'll take but I think it moves on to a different course when we come back we talk to Mitt Romney about his life in the Senate and the influence of his [Music] father when you were elected to the Senate you wrote a list of things you wanted to accomplish how many of those have you gotten done uh quite a few but I've added a lot of things to the list and actually the last couple of years up until this year the last year you know the two years prior of this year I was able to be part of a negotiating group uh that was able to put together legislation which not only passed the Senate but also the house and got signed by the president so became law so the infrastructure Bill became law the Electoral count act reform became law uh marriage and religious liberty protections became law a gun safety Bill became law the chips act which I supported wasn't a negotiator there that became law we got a lot done so why are you not running for re-election I'm of the view that I happen to be in Washington at a key time when a number of individuals four Democrats and four Republicans came together negotiated and drove through major pieces of legislation we got a lot done but I think those days are not there at least given my current vision of where we are in part because some of those individuals have left in part because the house is far less organized today than it was even under Nancy Pelosi and uh I didn't want to spend a lot of time uh six years getting nothing done and also I really do believe it's time for the Next Generation to step up look we're we're crushing Millennials and young people we older people have have voted for folks that'll give us more and more benefits and lower our taxes and put on debt to the Next Generation and the next Generations don't recognize what's being put on their shoulders we will never pay off the debt Baby Boomers the numbers were wrecking up the trillions were wrecking up we're going to be gone so I think it's time for them to step into Washington to see what's happening and to start screaming about the future of America and their lives let's turn to to your family their influence has always been a central part of your life what did you learn from your dad my dad is my life hero as a republican Governor he refused to endorse the nominee of his party Barry Goldwater for president because he thought he was weak on civil rights and extremism so uh that's the person who I try and model myself after and I I'm not quite there you went to the 1964 convention with your dad yeah yeah I was uh you know up in the the balcony watching my dad and uh seeing how he was treated people treated him with respect but uh he was not in the Goldwater bandwagon and when Goldwater said extremism in the defense of Liberty is no Vice and the crowd cheered what did your father do you know it's hard for me to remember exactly what went out in 1964 uh but he um rejected goldwater's uh Embrace of extremism and the John bur Society felt that was wrong for the Republican party and uh and it lesson I think people looked at the party then and said oh my goodness the Republican party has changed it's extreme it's anti-il rights you know when Goldwater lost the party was able to refind its footing and uh and I hope if and when Donald Trump loses uh that we're able to refind our footing again do you think that's true I hope it's true do you think your father would be proud of how you've stood up for your values as you've run for office and how you're speaking out now uh you know I hope my dad would be uh proud of of what I've done and and hopefully lived up to his legacy uh I'm sure he'd point out some things I did wrong uh some of the uh uh tactics and moves that I made I actually made with his advice he used to wake up at I don't know 300 or 4 in the morning and write these long pages of notes M you need to do this you need to do that that's when I was running uh for Senate in 1994 uh and uh so I sought his advice and and knew where he where he stood but um you know my dad just didn't waver he he would point out if he was wrong and change course but but he stood for what he believed when we come back and Romney joins our conversation on what's next for the Romney in [Music] politics so how long have you two been together well I was um 15 turning 16 on our first date 58 years just that our first date was 58 years ago so yeah we've known each other and we know each other's families obviously and you know it's so interesting I feel like when I'm with mitt I'm home there's nowhere else I need to go there's this peaceful feeling that is just like ah we can relax we can just the worries just dissipate just because we're together we sleep better when we're together it's just comforting but you've described your life here in Washington is pretty lonely well an has horses and and she she likes to ride as you know she has Ms and she has found that the exercise of riding and training these horses keeps her well and healthy so she's not here in DC with me uh I go wherever she is on the weekend like a little puppy dog you know looking for its master I I run to where Ann is riding her horses but we're together four nights um so he's alone for three nights in DC yes I mean that is the fact and he's eating pieces of salmon on pieces of I did not know that R it to salmon with ketchup but you know he goes like hamburger with ketchup salmon with ketchup it's like okay so what's next for Mitt and Anne Romney any more politics I got elected I got elected first by the way before him so I was in Boston even in Belmont and I was a town meeting member so my that was my first election so what do you think am I done with my career now I think I think her political career is over I presume mine is as well uh you know I will still be involved and act I don't know precisely how we've known this but also reading again in the book I mean an you've counseled mitt on everything that he's done are you his closest adviser I absolutely and he mine yeah except I don't listen to him as much as he listens to me no I mean you mean Ann and I basically grew up together uh and uh and she's smart and has uh Judgment of of uh people better than mine uh so she gives me advice on people um but she also gives me good political advice uh look I my life Revol revolves around an and our family together that's what defines me in my life my faith also uh and a sense of service to our country but uh yeah we're in all way Partners right now you know we are on the next round of grandchildren which is great grandchildren and it's been kind of shocking to me um how much I have loved it's almost like starting all over again with a first grandchild it is that thrilling and exciting we really truly it's like no we really want to go and spend more time with family it's really true for us we really really love being with them it's almost everything for us right now is being with our grandkids it's not that you're fed up with Republican politics well that too I feel like there's no home for us right now but I my Democratic friends I feel like they are saying the same thing is that we are um a people without a party right now a lot of Americans are and I you know the great Center and we are a center-right nation is just gone and I think it will come back that we'll find our bearings again but right now I'm I'm a person without a party you got a call from Oprah what did she say well she was trying to figure out how Mick could do an independent run I remember trying to explain to her that that doesn't work politically and I think I was the one that suggested well Oprah why don't you run with him and see how that works I don't think it was really her thought at all cuz I don't think she really wants to be involved in any kind of politics in in an active way and what if Oprah called you this time uh I'm I'm not running and I'm I'm convinced by the way that look I I would love a center uh let's call it a No Labels candidate to become president the challenge is most likely they would not be able to get the 270 electoral count number that you need to become president so it would get kicked to the house and the members of the House are going to vote for their party they're not going to vote for some independent or some Noah labels person so I just don't see a viable pathway barring some very unusual circumstance that I don't see at this stage so some of your sons are considering a run for political office well we have one son in Utah that Josh that is obviously a perfect candidate for something like this and he's you know he's always had that interest there's a few of our sons that would never want to do anything with politics they hate it um but no Josh would and our son tag would of course too but he lives in Massachusetts and he knows the reality of running as a republican in Massachusetts so yeah we um I I would actually discourage my children if they were even interested right now because it's an ugly time we're in an ugly phase and we need to have some kind of Reckoning to bring us back to our sensibilities how do you want want your children to remember you uh well they probably already have an image of who I am uh but my descendants I hope will walk away saying okay Granddad or great Granddad uh had beliefs which were either right or wrong but he stood by them and that's I think the ultimate thing I'd like them to know I'd like them to also know that uh my life is not defined by winning and losing elections my life is defined by my relationship with my family and my faith that's what I live for those other things are part of the life experience but that's the defining measure of my life well [Music] said

Channel: CBS Evening News

Views: 318,919

Keywords: Person to Person, Norah O'Donnell, Full Episode, Mitt Romney, Republican Party, politics

Id: cEo-mJmrVLo

Length: 22min 22sec (1342 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 24 2023