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Ronna McDaniel is at odds with uncle Mitt Romney.
Grab popcorn and settle in for a new Washington drama. Or perhaps comedy is more apt.
The show stars freshman Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, in the role of presidential critic and his niece, Ronna (Romney) McDaniel, a presidential defender who lives in suburban Detroit and chairs the Republican National Committee.
The opening act takes place during a winter Wednesday as Donald Trump begins his third year in the White House with this tweet:
Here we go with Mitt Romney, but so fast! Question will be, is he a Flake? I hope not. Would much prefer that Mitt focus on Border Security and so many other things where he can be helpful. I won big, and he didn’t. He should be happy for all Republicans. Be a TEAM player & WIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2019
That's his response to a Washington Post commentary by Romney, who accuses him of character and leadership defects. The former campaign rival's essay says:
With the nation so divided, resentful and angry, presidential leadership in qualities of character is indispensable. And it is in this province where the incumbent’s shortfall has been most glaring. . . .
I do not intend to comment on every tweet or fault. But I will speak out against significant statements or actions that are divisive, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, dishonest or destructive to democratic institutions.
The next scene comes less than two hours after Trump's tweet with this shot by the 71-year-old senator's 45-year-old niece, a Northville resident:
POTUS is attacked and obstructed by the MSM media and Democrats 24/7. For an incoming Republican freshman senator to attack @realdonaldtrump as their first act feeds into what the Democrats and media want and is disappointing and unproductive. https://t.co/ArhI7Bi7bo
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) January 2, 2019
McDaniel had used her original family name until Trump reportedly asked her not to in 2017, according to The Washington Post. She's a daughter of Sen. Romney's older brother, Scott, and a granddaughter of George Romney, Michigan governor from 1963-69 and a Nixon administration secretary of housing and urban development (1969-73).
Wednesday's scene staged on Twitter fades out with the voice of a Democratic character, former Congressman John Dingell of Dearborn in the role of an elder statesman. "It appears that blood is not, in fact, thicker than bullshit. Sorry, Uncle Mitt," he tweets.
