The Trees are the Right Height
Mitt Romney: A Reckoning by McKay Coppins
Every time I visit my hometown, I think of Mitt Romney.
When he was campaigning for President in 2012, he gave a speech in Michigan where he famously said, “It seems right here. The trees are the right height.” I most likely heard this clip on The Daily Show or The Colbert Report and laughed at what an awkward thing that was to say.
Perhaps it was. And yet, every time I drive up Interstate-75 towards Atlanta, there’s a point where I notice that the trees are, in fact, the right height. Because of high winds and hurricanes (I assume), trees in Florida (where I live now) are shorter than the trees in North Georgia. There are more palms and oak here instead of the pine forests from home. The trees here have wider trunks like they’re always ready to hunker down for a storm.
When I went home for Thanksgiving, I noticed so many things about my hometown had changed. The population is denser than I remember it. The traffic is more congested than I remember. The restaurant I worked at in high school is a daycare center now. The school I attended is unrecognizable. We’re older, and there are new faces and empty seats around our family table. But amidst all that change, I find the trees are still the right height.
Romney’s political reckoning resonates with me in part because I wonder if he is, perhaps, the last “normal” Republican. By which I mean I might not have voted for him, but I don’t think his Presidency would’ve been an existential threat to our democracy. In 2012, Romney’s observations about tree height were emblematic of how he struggled to connect with voters. Leaked footage showed him at a fundraiser saying that 47 percent of Americans are “dependent on the government” because “they believe they are victims.” I remember him saying we should be concerned about Russia and Vladimir Putin. I remember President Obama quipping back, “the 1980s called; they want their foreign policy back,” At the time, I pictured Romney as a wealthy, out-of-touch guy who wasn’t ready to take on the role of President.
In retrospect, Russia has turned into a threat to the rules-based order, the Republican Party abandoned its principles to become an increasingly extreme caricature of itself, we’ve lived through things like the coronavirus pandemic and January 6th, and it leaves me feeling like I was, perhaps, unfair to Mitt.
These insults have made a splash in reviews of Romney: A Reckoning. As I listened to the interview (and Coppins’ ambivalence about how much attention this aspect of his book received), I was thinking about what resonated with me about knowing this side of Romney existed.
I think some of it is the desire to be validated. Yes, Ron DeSantis DOES look like he has a toothache. Yes, Mike Huckabee IS a caricature of a for-profit preacher.
And some of it has to do with what is alarmingly (as Sarah and Beth discussed on Tuesday) the appeal of Donald Trump. Trump would not quietly share these insults in private conversation or a journal. He tweets them (truth’s them?), shouts them at rallies, revels in them, and turns them into monikers. Trump makes you feel like ‘everyone is doing it.’ People I know who like Trump feel like Trump is authentic because at least he says what he’s thinking.
But some piece of it is what I see now as not just the reckoning but the redemption of Romney, in my eyes at least. For a long time, I viewed Mitt Romney as a two-dimensional caricature of himself. The “trees are the right height” guy. But seeing that he’s also the “could not disrespect him more” guy helps me see that Romney has grudges, dislikes, idiosyncrasies, and gaffs. And it makes me think: what I want in a public official? Do I want them to say everything they think? Is authenticity from a candidate necessary? What does accountability and responsibility from the Republican party look like in America?
I don’t know if I have answers, but I appreciate that someone like Mitt Romney is asking himself those questions, was willing to put his hat in the ring to hold his party to account, and believes in making things better.
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