Jul 16, 2024 - News

Romney on Vance in 2023 book: "It's not like you're going to be famous and powerful"

Erin Alberty

Mitt Romney wears a black suit and stands in a blue room with mantle decorations. — Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) last year in Washington, D.C. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) had some choice words for former President Trump's newly announced running mate, J.D. Vance, according to author McKay Coppins, who interviewed Romney extensively for his 2023 book "Romney: A Reckoning."

What's inside: "I don't know that I can disrespect someone more than J.D. Vance," Romney told Coppins in a book excerpt that appeared in The Atlantic.

Catch up quick: Romney lambasted Vance for what Coppins described as his "MAGA makeover" during his successful 2021 Senate run in Ohio.

Vance's star rose in 2016 when his book "Hillbilly Elegy" was published, and shot up the charts as an explanation for white, working-class voters' support for Trump.
Previously a never-Trump moderate, Vance became an arch-conservative election denier who opposes nearly all exemptions to abortion bans.

The intrigue: "How can you go over a line so stark as that — and for what?" Romney said. "It's not like you're going to be famous and powerful because you became a United States senator."

Editor's note: This story's headline has been updated to clarify Romney's comments appeared in his 2023 book.

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Romney on Vance in 2023 book: "It's not like you're going to be famous and powerful"

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