Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah slammed President Joe Biden on Sunday when discussing the president's first year in office, saying that the entire year was a rough one for the commander-in-chief.
During an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," Romney told host Chuck Todd that America is "severely divided" when asked about the current state of the country.
"When [Biden] was elected, people were not looking for him to transform America," Romney said. "They were looking to get back to normal, to stop the crazy. It seems like we're continuing to see policy and promotions that are not accepted by the American people."
The moderate GOP senator also took issue with comments made earlier in the show by Democratic strategist James Carville, who said Biden "had a bad week" but "a good year."
"No, no, [Biden’s] had a bad year," Romney emphasized. "He’s had 52 weeks of bad weeks. People are 7 percent poorer now because of Biden inflation. Gasoline prices are, what, 50 percent higher than they were when he took office. The border is a mess. COVID was resurgent. He didn’t have in place the [COVID] tests people needed to keep themselves safe. There was a disaster in Afghanistan. Russia is now threatening Ukraine. Things are not going well."
Yet, despite Romney's view of the current state of the nation, he noted that there are a number of issues that Biden could garner bipartisan support in Congress, including family security, education, healthcare and infrastructure. The senator pointed out that the Biden administration focuses far too often on federal control, highlighting the voting legislation Democrats are looking to pass that would federalize U.S. elections.
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"Recognize the Founders didn’t have that vision in mind," Romney said. "They didn't want an autocrat to be able to pull a lever in one place and change all the election laws. Instead, they spread that out over 50 states. I think in part to keep autocracy from finding its root here in this country. We can work together."
Romney went on to say that Biden's speech in Georgia last week pushing for the passage of two voting bills did not move the needle on uniting the country. The president's speech compared Republicans opposing the legislation to segregationists George Wallace, Bull Connor and Jefferson Davis.
"You cannot have practices which discriminate against people based upon their ethnicity," Romney said. "But what I think we have to point out here is a state like Georgia, which everybody is talking about because the president went there, it's easier to vote in Georgia even under the new legislation than it is to vote in Delaware or to vote in New York or to vote in New Jersey. And no one is saying that New York has discriminatory practices. New York’s practices are more stringent, more difficult to vote there than Georgia."
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