Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney recently warned of the dangers to the country’s democracy following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In a private fundraising event, Romney stressed the threat that the country’s democracy is under and the need to preserve it.
Speaking at a private fundraiser event for Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, Romney said that it is an “extraordinary challenge” to preserve the country’s democracy. Romney cited the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, and according to CBS, said that autocracy goes back thousands of years throughout the historic civilizations.
“We are really the only significant experiment in democracy, and preserving liberal democracy is an extraordinary challenge,” said Romney at the event that took place in McLean, Virginia, according to people who attended the event.
“What has kept us from falling in with the same kind of authoritarian leader as Vladimir Putin are the strengths of our institutions, the rule of law, our courts, Congress, and so forth,” Romney continued.
“People of character and courage have stood up for right at times when others want to look away. Such a person is Liz Cheney,” said the GOP Senator.
Romney reportedly said that the Russian dictator was following an authoritarian playbook “rehearsed time and time again, over the many thousands of years of world history,” noting the chart in his Senate office tracing 4,000 years of civilizations. Romney said that autocracy is the “default setting” of the chart.
Romney was given a standing ovation for his remarks and also praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who spoke to them about American democracy and the system’s fragility.
The 2012 presidential candidate also criticized former Democratic Hawaii congresswoman and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard when clips of her Fox News interview were seen being played on Russian state television. Romney said Gabbard was echoing the Kremlin’s talking points.
While Romney did not specify which comments, his criticism on social media followed after she expressed concern to Tucker Carlson regarding Russia’s claims of bioweapons in Ukraine. Carlson and many right-wingers have spread a conspiracy theory that the Biden administration was funding biological weapons laboratories in Ukraine without providing evidence.