Romney Minimizes Gay-Bashing: ‘In High School I Did Some Dumb Things’
Mitt Romney, still claiming to have no memory of his multiple gay-bashing attacks on several students — at least one of whom was gay — while he attended an exclusive high school, attempted to minimize his accountability today by calling his actions “hijinks,” and saying, “Back in high school I did some dumb things.”
READ:Â Mitt Romney Was A High School Gay-Bashing Bully
Romney, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, stands accused in a Washington Post exposé, as The New Civil Rights Movement reported, of being “a gay-bashing high school bully who said, ‘Atta girl,’ to effeminate boys and shockingly had a days-long emotional attack that culminated with him pinning down a gay classmate and cutting off his bleached-blond long hair.”
Today, Justin Sink at The Hill reports that in the wake of the Post article, Romney went on the “Kilmeade & Friends†radio program to defend himself:
Mitt Romney said Thursday that “back in high school I did some dumb things†but insisted that the prep school pranks chronicled in a news story were never intended to target gay students specifically.
“They talked about the fact that I played a lot of pranks in high school, and they described some that, boy, you just say to yourself, ‘Back in high school,’ you know, ‘I did some dumb things.’ If anyone was hurt by that or offended by that, obviously, I apologize. But overall, high school years were a long time ago,†Romney said on the “Kilmeade & Friends†radio program.
The Hill article adds:
Romney said Thursday he didn’t remember the prank, and that fellow students’ sexual orientation was not something he considered in high school.
“I don’t remember that incident and I certainly don’t believe I or — I can’t speak for other people, of course — thought he was homosexual. That was the furthest thing from my mind back in the 1960s, so that was not the case. But as to pranks that were played back then … I did stupid things, and I’m afraid I have to say sorry for it,†Romney said.
Romney is also depicted in the story as mocking a closeted gay student in class by yelling “atta’girl†when the student would speak up in class.
“I really can’t remember that,†Romney said. “There are a lot of times in a boys’ school where other boys do something and people say ‘atta’girl.’ But as this person indicated, he was closeted, I had no idea that he was gay and can’t speak to that even today. But as to the teasing and the taunts that go on in high school, that’s a long time ago — for me it’s 48 years ago. Again, if there’s anything I said that was offensive to anyone, I certainly am sorry for that, very deeply sorry about that. No harm intended.â€
Romney went on to talk about how he had grown and changed once meeting his wife, Ann, and said he “became a very different person.â€
“I’m a very different person than I was in high school. I’m glad I learned as much as I did during those high school years … but I can tell you I’m quite a different guy now,†Romney said.
Romney then attempted to pivot to the economy, arguing that a discussion of how to fix the ailing economy was more important than his high school “hijinks.”
Romney’s “if there’s anything I said that was offensive to anyone, I certainly am sorry for that, very deeply sorry about that. No harm intended,” response is boilerplate claptrap. And ignores the victim of his reported physical assault, who died in 2004.
No one should attempt to minimize gay-bashing, whether it occurred in 1965 or 2005. (The Hill article’s title offensively classifies Romney’s actions as “pranks.”) Yes, Romney may be “a very different person” today. But someone who attempts to minimize serious actions — pinning a minor down and forcibly cutting off his hair is easily assault in any jurisdiction in any decade, one would have to think — by calling them “hijinks” and saying they were “dumb things,” demonstrates they just don’t get it.
And why should anyone think Romney does get it? Not only does he not support the right of same-sex couples to marry — consistent with only half of the American populace, at most — but he does not support the right of same-sex couples to even enter into civil unions, a position so extreme it’s doubtful even one in four Americans share that position.
Yesterday, after President Obama announced his support of same-sex marriage, the political punditry class went into calculation mode. I’ll repeat what I said then. Issues like same-sex marriage, and now, gay-bashing, aren’t about policy and they’re not about politics, they’re about people.
Image:Â Mitt Romney Senior Photo 1965, courtesy Cranbrook Schools
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President Donald Trump concluded his executive time Friday morning with a statement announcing he would end the U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, and laid out his requirements for a deal with Iran, before declaring, “I will be meeting now, in the Situation Room, to make a final determination.”
After a two-hour meeting with his advisors, Trump left without making a decision.
“It was not clear why Mr. Trump did not reach a decision,” The New York Times reports.
“In recent days, the sides have exchanged fire, and Mr. Trump has repeatedly threatened a return to full-scale war,” the Times added.
Among Trump’s demands were that the Strait be reopened “immediately,” with no tolls imposed on traffic, and all water mines removed — although he noted, “we have removed, through detonation, numerous such mines with our great underwater mine sweepers.”
“Ships caught in the Strait due to our amazing and unprecedented Naval Blockade, which will now be lifted, may start the process of ‘heading home!’ Say hello to your wives, husbands, parents, and families from me, your favorite President,” he wrote. Trump added: “No money will be exchanged, until further notice.”
READ MORE: Judge: Trump Cannot Rename Kennedy Center
Were an agreement to be reached, the Times noted, “it could give Mr. Trump an off-ramp from a war that has driven up oil prices and grown deeply unpopular at home. It could also eventually allow Iran to regain access to frozen overseas assets and provide a route for Tehran to get billions of dollars of oil revenue flowing again.”
Even if the Strait reopened immediately, experts warn, replacing the lost oil could take months.
“The spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, Esmail Baghaei, said in a telephone interview with Iranian state media on Friday that current negotiations were limited in scope and did not include ‘the nuclear issue,'” the Times reports. Trump did specifically state that “Iran must agree that they will never have a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb.”
He also mentioned “nuclear dust,” writing that it “is buried deep underground with virtually collapsed mountains, caused by our powerful B2 Bomber attack 11 months ago, sitting on top of it.”
The president said that it “will be unearthed by the United States (which, it is agreed, is the only Country, along with China, with the mechanical capability of doing so!), in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and destroyed.”
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Image via Reuters
A federal judge has ordered that President Donald Trump cannot rename the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, nor may he close it for what the Trump administration said were two years of renovations.
“The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so,” the judge wrote, CNBC reports. “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”
Just weeks after he was sworn into office, Trump removed members of the board of the Kennedy Center and replaced them with allies and administration officials, including Richard Grenell, Pam Bondi, and Susie Wiles. The new board then voted for Trump to become chairman of the Kennedy Center.
In December, after the White House announced that the board of the Kennedy Center — the official, “living memorial” to the late president — had voted to rename the iconic cultural institution the Trump-Kennedy Center, several members of the Kennedy family took the opportunity to denounce the move.
Maria Shriver, the former First Lady of California, wrote: “The Kennedy Center was named after my uncle, President John F Kennedy.”
She called the renaming “beyond comprehension,” “beyond wild,” “downright weird,” and “obsessive in a weird way,” while explaining that the Kennedy Center was named in honor of a man who was interested in the arts, culture, education, language, and history.
“Next thing perhaps he will want to rename JFK Airport, rename the Lincoln Memorial, the Trump Lincoln Memorial,” she said. “The Trump Jefferson Memorial. The Trump Smithsonian. The list goes on.”
May 17 is President John F. Kennedy’s birthday, he was born in 1917.
This article has been updated.
Image via Reuters
The Villages in Florida is deep red Trump country — it’s called the “largest retirement community in the world,” where nearly seven out of 10 county residents voted for Trump in 2024. It’s roughly four hours to President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and resort, and it’s not unusual to see Trump flags on the backs of residents’ golf carts.
Trump visited The Villages just a few weeks ago, where one resident told BBC News, “we’re as red as red gets.”
“The Village are very Republican and very Trumpster,” said another.
“Trump 2028!” declared another, waving his fist.
But the tide appears to be turning in Florida, where several polls spell bad news for Trump. His approval is underwater in one poll from April, and one released on Thursday shows a majority of Florida voters hold a negative view of the president.
Still, some may find a letter to the editor in The Villages local news declaring “MAGA has abandoned core Republican principles” surprising.
The letter declares MAGA is “not conservatism,” but rather a “betrayal” that has “embraced indulgence.”
“The irony is cruel,” says the letter writer, Carl Young. “Those who once railed against ‘big government’ now defend its excesses when it serves their side. The philosophy of restraint has been replaced by the politics of spectacle. Rome is burning, and the arsonists call the flames freedom.”
Young scorches Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” that he says “produced the highest deficit spending in history.”
Citing dystopian and totalitarian works by George Orwell, Ray Bradbury, and Ayn Rand, he writes: “This is not renewal but regression. America has been dragged into an alternate 1984, where responsibility collapses and chaos parades as strength. The political temperature has risen to 451. The pigs now rule the farm.”
“These were never meant as prophecies. They were warnings,” he continues. “Atlas has finally shrugged.”
Image via Shutterstock
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