In other words, it’s exactly how you got Trump.
How very convenient that Axelrod only came to "admire" Romney after he relentlessly lied about him on the 2012 campaign trail. Recall that the Obama campaign accused Romney of everything from giving a woman cancer to wanting to re-enslave black Americans. In fact, that election is often cited as the moment our politics broke irreparably. The left were absolutely vicious, and because they were able to accuse someone as milquetoast as Romney of such horrors, the right finally threw their hands up and said they are done being suckers. That’s how you got a billionaire playboy who was willing to actually fight as the nominee in 2016. It’s also how he eventually became president. Had Trump run in 2008, I doubt he’d have won. But people like Axelrod so thoroughly destroyed our politics that it took a bull in a china shop to reset the deck.To be frank, even if you don’t like Trump’s style, there was always a middle ground. Figures like Ron DeSantis populate it with relative ease and have bright futures because of it. Romney has no interest in that though. He’d always rather attack his own side while fluffing his opponents because it makes him feel morally superior. It also happens to be an extremely easy thing to do as a Republican in Washington. Doing what Trump did, standing up to the left in so many areas, takes actual fortitude. Meanwhile, Romney can only be counted to release a statement of disapproval of anything when he’s attacking another Republican.