Cailey Mcginn
News Writer
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Leonna Wrenn, registered independent, gives her opinions as to what Republican Sen. Mitt Romney’s impeachment vote means for the U.S.
During the impeachment hearing in early February, voices from the left praised Republican Sen. Mitt Romney for his vote to indict President Donald Trump. Sen. Romney is the first senator in history to vote to impeach a president belonging to their own party, according to the Washington Post.
“His vote matters because it counted toward the votes to indict Trump, but we shouldn’t be praising him for voting for an obvious indictment,” said UNC Asheville student and registered Independent Leona Wrenn.
She said he’s doing the job he signed up to do.
Sen. Romney told Fox News correspondent Chris Wallace his decision came after Trump attacked the oath of office and the Constitution. So far, Wallace has been the only person to interview the senator.
Sen. Romney has made some of his own statements but has avoided most news outlets.
News outlets such as Fox News and CNN have commented about the relationship between the senator and the president and created a time-line. Trump supported Romney’s campaign for president in the 2012 election, but things changed when Trump ran for president.
In Oct. 2015, Trump tweeted
“@MittRomney is trying to hit back at me because I’m saying that he let the Repub Party down w/ his loss to Obama. Should’ve won—he choked!”
Jordan Gorski, a UNC Charlotte student, and registered Republican said despite not agreeing entirely with Sen. Romney, he did support his vote to go through with the impeachment trial
“I believe President Trump has been pushing the limits of what is expected and allowed for the presidency,” Gorski said.
Gorski has been a Republican and involved in political conversation and debate for a long time. While his response to Sen. Romney’s vote was more on the optimistic side, other voices from the right have been more critical.
According to The Guardian, Donald Trump Jr., son of the president, suggested Romney should be expelled from the Republican party. Gorski said this reaction comes from Sen. Romney’s seeming betrayal of the Republican party.
Gorski was upfront about how he rarely agrees with Sen. Romney. Though they belong to the same political party, Gorski has differing opinions on policies than him most of the time.
“Mitt Romney did something neither party would expect and it was seen as a betrayal to the Republican party and the president. However, it shows that there are still some virtuous leaders in politics and that they aren’t all in it for themselves,” Gorski said.
Mary Grace Currie, a UNCA student and a registered Democrat, said Romney’s vote did matter. Currie said she was unaware Romney’s actions had never happened before. She knew voting outside of his party lines was a big deal but was surprised to find out this was a first.
“I think Romney’s vote did matter in the sense that he went against the party he is a part of,” Currie said.
She did have some reservations about how he used faith to justify his vote. To her, in a way, it was a cop-out.
“Romney should have, in my opinion, based the vote on more than just his faith he would be better supported,” Currie said.
According to Currie, it’s more than just this specific event where he should have taken a stance against Trump.
“Romney’s vote would have most likely mattered more if he stepped up sooner and made points based on something other than faith but also for the people of the U.S. that are struggling due to Trump’s presidency,” she said.
