The DKrol Saga: A Series of TLs

[DKrol]

Are any of those nominees Democrats?

Michelle Rhee is a Democrat. Luttig, Keane, and Loy are nominal independents.

[Kingpoleon]

I'm looking forward to seeing a Senator Frazier and Secretary of State Huntsman. Can't wait to see the Huntsman doctrine.

[DKrol]

I've gone back and edited in the Gubernatorial results to Chapter XII of Big Bet, because I will need those late on.

Any questions on anything - 2016 elections, nominations, general questions about life - please feel free to ask.

[DKrol]

Chapter II: The Inauguration Day Debacle

The Romney-Rubio Readiness Project went perfectly smooth. Perfectly smooth, that is, except the day of the Inauguration itself. A week before, Chief Justice John Roberts announced his intentions to retire upon the confirmation of his successor - presumably a Romney appointee. In his announcement, Roberts cited his history of strokes and a desire to spend more time with his family. President Obama, however, had a different plan, a plan to establish a lasting Obama legacy. On January 17, Obama announced his appointment of Martha Minow, Dean of Harvard Law School, as the 18th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He made that announcement without even a word to anyone on the Romney team.

We were thrown for a loop; we were completely blind sided. We had expected President Obama to recognize the desire of the American people for Republican leadership and delay an appointment until after Romney had taken office. I was sitting in my office, making the final arrangements for musicians at the Inauguration, when Matt Rhoades stormed into the room and turned the TV on to Fox News. Alongside a "breaking news" banner, I read the headline. Then I read it again. Matt and I just looked at each other, unsure of what had just happened. Then I said "Do you want to tell him, or should I?"

Mitt was furious. He was in a worse mood than I had ever seen him and I was with him when he lost in 2012. "How can he do this?" He asked "Is he really that pompous?" We knew that once he took the oath he could immediately retract Minow's nomination and instead offer one of our own candidates but it was the gall of President Obama to fill such an important office in the final 72 hours of his presidency, without even a heads-up text.

This set the tone of Inauguration Day, especially after we found out that President Obama had invited Minow as one of his special guests and that she would be seated just two rows behind the current Supreme Court Justices. When the car carrying the President-elect arrived at the White House to pick up the Obamas, Romney didn't get out of the car until they left the building, and then he only greeted them coolly. The car ride was taken in silence, with only a few polite words exchanged between the wives.

The Romney Inaugural Address was a piece of art. It took a team of five writers, three political operatives, Mitt, Ann, and myself more than two months to achieve its final form. Romney called for sweeping action to correct the deficit, promote economic growth, and bridge the partisan divide. He carefully recognized the "tools of division" that had split the nation over the last two decades: race relations, civil liberties, extremist politicians, and a move away from "thoughtful exchanges" over our differences. He steered away from mentioning Minow directly, but thanked Chief Justice Roberts for his "decade of service" to the Court and promised to fill the post with "someone with the best interests of our nation and the intentions of our founders at the heart of their judicial philosophy." Everyone, from the most liberal MSNBC hosts to Rush Limbaugh, praised Romney and his Inaugural address.

On the way from the Inaugural parade to the Congressional luncheon, President Romney called me on his cellphone to talk about the plan going forward. Before the end of the day, he wanted a shortlist for candidates for Chief Justice, and he wanted to give that list to Senate and House Leadership, as well as the media, by noon the following day. We had talked about names before, but only in a casual, haphazard way. Drafting the shortlist was my first real duty as White House Chief of Staff.

Romney Shortlist for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
Associate Justice Samuel Alito
Associate Justice Clarence Thomas
Former Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
Attorney General J. Michael Luttig
Former Solicitor General Paul Clement
Dean of the J. Reuben Clark School of Law James Rasband


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Guesses for Chief Justice?

[rpryor03]

Clement or Rasband.

[Kingpoleon]

I'm rooting for O'Connor, but I suspect you'll either appoint a Dark Horse like David H. Levi, James Buckley, or you'll go for James Rasband.

[DKrol]

Chapter III: The First Fight

On February 1, two days after all of his cabinet nominees were confirmed by the Republican Senate and sworn in, President Romney called me into the Oval to discuss the pending Supreme Court nomination. We had narrowed the shortlist down to three: Associate Justice Samuel Alito, former Solicitor General Paul Clement, and Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn. Cornyn was a bit of a stretch for me but Attorney General Michael Luttig pressed hard for him, as Cornyn had had time on a Texas District Court and the Texas Supreme Court, and served as Texas Attorney General for four years, so Romney considered him.

Former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was dismissed early on in the vetting process over concerns for her liberal positions on abortion and affirmative action. Justice Thomas was just thrown on the list of make it look like we might place the first black man as Chief Justice, but it was never our intention. My candidate was Justice Alito. Conservative, but not a Scalia. Young, but not a Viet Dinh. Energetic, but not rabid. As I said, the Attorney General was pushing for his friend Cornyn. The main Clement advocate was his former boss, former Attorney General John Ashcroft who Romney had named "Senior Legal Adviser to the President for Matters of Judicial Appointments". In typical Romney fashion, we all sat down in the Oval and made pro/con lists for the three finalists. At the end of the day, the cons were shorter for Clement and he was our guy. We were ready to formally nominate him on February 17.

Based on the reaction from Senate conservatives, you would have thought we had offered the nomination to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. "He's too moderate" they said, "We don't know enough about him" they complained, "He's too safe" they told me when I went to the Hill to inform them of our choice. Senator Ted Cruz pulled me aside at one point and said "Look, we won in 2016. We should act like it. Put a real conservative on the top bench. Make me Chief Justice." I almost laughed in his face when he said that. I went to Cornyn and asked him to ask around and get me a loose whip count on a Clement nomination. He looked me dead in the face and said we didn't have the votes, based on the reactions of Senators Cruz, Mike Lee, and Ben Sasse. As I trudged back up to the White House, I tried to think of the best way to tell the President that his first major non-Cabinet nomination was going to be Borked by his own party. When I walked into the Oval all I said was "We need to start over."

I threw out the old shortlist and hunkered down to crank out a new one, one that could appease the rabid conservative dogs of the Senate and the New England moderate in the White House. On a big yellow legal notepad I scribbled names like James L. Buckley, Janice Rogers Brown, Antonin Scalia, Orrin Hatch, Edwin Meese, Kennith Starr, and Alex Kozinski. As the clock ticked well into the early morning of February 20, I had no one that I could go to the President with. Our first big fight, our first push, and we were losing.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

In case you aren't aware - Orrin Hatch is 81. He most likely wouldn't accept an appointment to the Supreme Court. In fact, the conventional wisdom is that he will retire when his senate seat comes up for election in 2018.

[DKrol]

In case you aren't aware - Orrin Hatch is 81. He most likely wouldn't accept an appointment to the Supreme Court. In fact, the conventional wisdom is that he will retire when his senate seat comes up for election in 2018.

That's why he's on Levitt's junk list. As Chairman of the Judiciary Committee his name came up but was dismissed immediately fir the reasons you mentioned.

[DKrol]

Chapter IV: We Place Two

I met with Chief Justice John Roberts on February 23 and talked to him about our dilemma with the Senate conservatives in finding his replacement. He offered to meet with them and try to smooth them out, but he said we needed to give them something in return. We were still crafting our first policy initiatives so I couldn't use them as a bargaining chip. Roberts suggested that we elevate a non-Scalia Associate Justice to Chief Justice and give the conservatives a replacement Associate Justice more in line with their philosophy. He also wrote off Anthony Kennedy as a Chief Justice candidate, citing his age and recent liberal tendencies, which left us with Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. Roberts told me he liked them both just fine and would be pleased to see either of them replace him. With the President and the Attorney General, we agreed on our Justice to be raised.

I then made another trip to the Hill to meet with the conservatives who had shot me down on Paul Clement. On a cold February morning, I sat in a Senate conference room with Senators Ted Cruz, Ben Sasse, Mike Lee, and James Lanford, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Jim Jordan, Congressmen Justin Amash, Frank Guinta, Dave Brat, Ted Poe, and Raul Labrador, and House Majority Whip Steven Scalise and I told them about the plan; we get to choose the Chief, they can exert their influence over the replacement Associate Justice. The room erupted in applause when I finished explaining their role. I told them they had one week to get back to me with their choice for Associate Justice.

They took their full week. It wasn't until the end of the first week of March before we were ready to announce our nominee(s) for the Supreme Court. At a Cross Hall press conference, President Romney was flanked by several individuals. I was on his left, along with Vice President Rubio, Attorney General Luttig, and former Senator Ashcroft. On his right were the nominees, Associate Justice Thomas and D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Senior Judge A. Raymond Randolph. Romney hailed Thomas as "a hero for young African Americans" and Randolph as "a dedicated jurist". Thanks to the deal I cut with the Senate conservatives, the confirmation hearings were a breeze. Democrats didn't dare to block Thomas' nomination out of fear of appearing to be blocking the first black man from becoming Chief Justice and Randolph had too low name recognition for their opposition to take hold. Both were sworn in on May 3 and former Chief Justice Roberts accepted a professorship at George Mason Law School.

President Romney and I sat back in his private residence the night of May 3, knocking back Cokes and watching ESPN. We had won our first fight and we had won it big. We sent out a message that we would have none of the obstruction on judicial appointments that President Bush was plagued with.

[DKrol]

Chapter V: Taking the Fight to Them

As the situation at the Supreme Court was settling, we were able to turn to our campaign promises. In his private study, President Romney had a white board with every campaign promise he made while running and ever day he looked at it and asked "What can I erase today?". He had done the same thing during his term in the Corner Office on Beacon Hill. First on the list: Get ISIS out of Iraq. Not eviscerate them. Not remove ISIS and Assad. Just reclaim Iraq. We felt that this was something that could reasonably be done in a single term.

We had held meetings with the Joint Chiefs, looked over dozens of operational plans, and talked about every possibility in Cabinet Meetings. President Romney dispatched Secretary of State Jon Huntsman to Erbil to meet with Kurdish President Masoud Barzani while he sent former UN Ambassador John Bolton to meet with Saudi, Lebanese, and Jordanian officials. I went with Vice President Rubio to London, Paris, and Berlin and UN Ambassador Richard Lugar made his rounds while the President stayed in Washington to coordinate with Secretary of Defense Jim Talent and Joint Chiefs Chairman Joseph Dunford. This was a foreign policy full court press like I had never seen. Even former President George W. Bush was called in to sure up domestic support for the President's plan.

The plan, codenamed Operation Kurdish Freedom, had a three-pronged approach. First, our foreign allies would conduct 24-hour bombing runs for three days prior to US movement. Second, we would deploy a variety of air-based assaults, including air-to-surface missiles, surface-to-surface missiles, and sea-to-surface missiles. Thirdly, a Kurdish-led coalition of 150,000 ground troops from the UK, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan, and the US would launch a campaign from Kirkuk, go Northeast towards Mosul, and then push East to the Syrian border with air support blazing the way forward for the ground campaign.

I was weary of the plan, looking towards the 2018 midterms and the low support for a ground campaign to combat ISIS. General Dunford assured us, however, that, with such a broad coalition, US troops would only be needed in command positions. President Romney, having no military service under his belt, was hesitant of defying his generals. He convened a super committee, similar to President Kennedy's ExComm during the Cuban Missile Crisis, on March 21 in the Oval Office. The Romney ExComm was made up of myself, Vice President Rubio, Secretaries Huntsman, Talent, Zoellick, Keane, and Loy, General Dunford, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Paul Selva, Ambassador Luger, CIA Director John Brennan, and National Security Adviser Stephen Cambone. President Romney laid on the plan as General Dunford, Secretary Talent, and himself had designed it. He then went around the room and had everyone give their opinion on it. It was a mixed room, with the politicians generally being hesitant about the ramifications and the career military officers supporting it. Adviser Cambone advocated going a step further and using limited, strategic nuclear strikes on ISIS facilities in Syria and Iraq, but the rest of the room squashed that idea. We were no closer to reaching a decision after ExComm than before it.

That all changed on April 18. A trio of ISIS-linked terrorists detonated a set of bombs at the Boston Marathon, in what would have been a repeat of the 2013 Marathon attacks except that there was more. Within minutes of the bombs in Boston, a pipe bomb went off at the Mall of America in Minnesota. Almost simultaneously, a bomb exploded in a trash can in Chicago's Grant Park. More than 100 people were killed at each location, with the Mall of America attack being especially deadly. When ISIS took responsibility within an hour of the first detonations, President Romney made his decision. He called Secretary Hunstman and told him to call his foreign counterparts. He called Press Secretary Russell Schriefer to get him 20 minutes in prime time that evening.

At 8:15PM on April 21, after three days of intense foreign air campaigns in Iraq, President Romney announced the start of Operation Kurdish Freedom and promised to "remove the ability for ISIS to commit their acts of terror against the free world", as well as "retaliation for the American people who lost their lives yesterday". Snap polls showed Operation Kurdish Freedom had 64% support from the public.

[DKrol]

Thoughts, questions, comments, or concerns?

[Enderman]

Great storytelling, Krol. I'm excited to see what would happen. Though, I have a few questions. What were the attacks later called? What was the before/after approval ratings for Romney? Excited for more

[DKrol]

Great storytelling, Krol. I'm excited to see what would happen. Though, I have a few questions. What were the attacks later called? What was the before/after approval ratings for Romney? Excited for more

The attacks are collectively referred to as the "April Bombings" by the media and the public, while Romney refers to them as "the ISIS attacks", in order to remind the public that it was ISIS that committed the attacks.

Romney Approve/Disapprove - April 1
Approve: 57%
Disapprove: 38%
Unsure: 5%

Romney Approve/Disapprove - April 20
Approve: 65%
Disapprove: 23%
Unsure: 12%

[Enderman]

I just realized that there is one slight continuity issue. At the end of Chapter IV, you mention that the Supreme Court nominees were inaugurated on May 3rd. The main problem would be the wording of the first sentence of Chapter V.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

The start of that would be in mid April, half a month after the SCOTUS debacle was settled. It's a pretty easy fix. I'd say something like this would be good:

"As the nominees for the Supreme Court were being debated, we were able to turn to our campaign promises."

For me, it's okay how it is, though, you could fix it if you'd like. As for the questions, I have a few: What were some of the most prominent of the Romney campaign promises? Have they changed at all since 2012? Are there gonna be any natural disasters as well? Has there been any major events (nationally, internationally, either or) before the April Bombings?

[DKrol]

Chapter VI: Winning the Fight Abroad, Being Dragged into the Fight At Home

The first two phases of Operation Kurdish Freedom went off without a hitch. One British bomber was taken down by an ISIS shoulder-mounted rocket, but he was quickly recovered by a team of US and British Specials Ops. The road from Kirkuk to Mosul was decimated before the first troops suited up and prepared to mobilize, sparring the fragile coalition from hitting heavy combat at the start of the mission. Defense Secretary Talent flew to Baghdad to meet with senior commanders from the eight coalition member states the evening after the first Kurdish troops mobilized and received nothing but praise for planning and coordinating such a smooth military operation. Secretary of State Huntsman went on a "victory tour" around Northern Africa and Central Asia as the coalition prepared to breach Mosul. At home, the media hailed Operation Kurdish Freedom as President Romney's Desert Shield - a roaring success with only 4 casualties as of the siege on Mosul, which took only 21 days from the start of mobilization. His approval ratings broke 70%.

Things were great at the White House. With such a booming success in Kurdistan (we started referring to the area as such, to create a distinction from the unpopular War in Iraq) and high approvals at home we started to look at our domestic agenda. After meeting with Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen and Treasury Secretary Bob Zoellick, we felt confident that our first domestic policy initiative would be an economic one. On June 12, President Romney held a press conference where he announced a plan to reform the IRS and the tax filing system. He proposed, drawing on an idea brought about by then-presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, that a single-page filing system that could be filled out just with the information on a W-2 be created "to promote maximum efficiency, maximum expediency, and minimal burden on the American people". A second page would be required to claim dependents and file for exemptions under the new system. The plan was hailed by conservatives and moderates, while liberals mumbled under their breath about "over simplification". President Romney tasked Secretary Zoellick and IRS Commissioner Jes Stanley with implementing the new policy for filing season 2020.

I just realized that there is one slight continuity issue. At the end of Chapter IV, you mention that the Supreme Court nominees were inaugurated on May 3rd. The main problem would be the wording of the first sentence of Chapter V.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

The start of that would be in mid April, half a month after the SCOTUS debacle was settled. It's a pretty easy fix. I'd say something like this would be good:

"As the nominees for the Supreme Court were being debated, we were able to turn to our campaign promises."

For me, it's okay how it is, though, you could fix it if you'd like. As for the questions, I have a few: What were some of the most prominent of the Romney campaign promises? Have they changed at all since 2012? Are there gonna be any natural disasters as well? Has there been any major events (nationally, internationally, either or) before the April Bombings?

Thank you for pointing out my error in the dating of things, I'll go back and correct that now. Most of Romney's campaign promises are similar to his 2012 ones: Repeal and Replace Obamacare, fix the deficit, move towards a balanced budget, defeat ISIS, etc. There will be natural disasters since a President does not control the weather (or does he? *insert conspiracy theory here*) The winter of 2016-2017 was notably mild, with only two major snow events taking place in February.

There was an ISIS attack in Belgium that killed 54 in February. In May 2017, Nicholas Sarkozy won the French Presidential election by riding on peoples' fears over terrorism.

The 2017 Virginia Governor's race is set to be between Ed Gillespie (R) and Gerry Connolly (D), while the 2017 New Jersey Governor's race is also set between to Thomas Kean, Jr. (R) and former Governor Richard Codey (D).

Non-electorally, the New England Patriots won Super Bowl LI against the Green Bay Packers (who won Super Bowl 50) in February 2017. In October 2016, the Washington Nationals won the World Series against the New York Yankees in 6 games. The Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup in 5 games over the Montreal Candiens in June 2016. The Golden State Warriors won their second straight NBA Championship over the Miami Heat in 7 games in June 2016. The MLS Cup went to the New England Revolution over Sporting Kansas City in December 2016.

[Enderman]

Pretty interesting, Krol. Sounds like the Packers have finally gotten their act together, after their constant disappointments from Super Bowl XLV to 50. It also seems like the Romney/Rubio team has fared well. Which reminds me, how has Paul Ryan been? Is he still Speaker? Plus, how has the Congressional Leadership been as a whole? Has there been any major shake ups?

[DKrol]

Pretty interesting, Krol. Sounds like the Packers have finally gotten their act together, after their constant disappointments from Super Bowl XLV to 50. It also seems like the Romney/Rubio team has fared well. Which reminds me, how has Paul Ryan been? Is he still Speaker? Plus, how has the Congressional Leadership been as a whole? Has there been any major shake ups?

Ryan decided to remain as Speaker while he grooms a successor. He's said he plans on remaining Speaker until after the 2018 midterms. Pelosi, who retired, was replaced by Hoyer as Minority Leader, and Hoyer by Peter Welch (D-VT-AL) as Whip.

I wanted to have the Vikings win 50 but with them facing Seattle in the Wildcard I couldn't.

[Enderman]

Ryan decided to remain as Speaker while he grooms a successor. He's said he plans on remaining Speaker until after the 2018 midterms. Pelosi, who retired, was replaced by Hoyer as Minority Leader, and Hoyer by Peter Welch (D-VT-AL) as Whip.

I wanted to have the Vikings win 50 but with them facing Seattle in the Wildcard I couldn't.

Makes sense. How has the Senate been? Same story?

[DKrol]

Ryan decided to remain as Speaker while he grooms a successor. He's said he plans on remaining Speaker until after the 2018 midterms. Pelosi, who retired, was replaced by Hoyer as Minority Leader, and Hoyer by Peter Welch (D-VT-AL) as Whip.

I wanted to have the Vikings win 50 but with them facing Seattle in the Wildcard I couldn't.

Makes sense. How has the Senate been? Same story?

Still McConnell/Cornyn for the Republicans. Chuck Schumer was elected to replace Reid, as was expected, with Durbin remaining on as Whip.

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

Stutzman beats Young in a landslide for the GOP senate primary and landslides the democrat. Young may be the establishment backed candidate but Stutzman is more loved and supported by the base and the base comes out huge for him.

[DKrol]

Chapter VII: Mission Accomplished

Operation Kurdish Freedom was a roaring success. As the 60 day mark for the timetable of Presidential force, created by the War Powers Resolution, was ticking down the Coalition reached the Syrian border after suffering only 10 casualties - and of those only 1 American. We then initiated the fourth phase of the plan: establishing stability in Iraq. President Romney and Secretary Huntsman devised a power-sharing agreement with the Kurds that left the upper command posts of the Kurdish Peshmerga to the United States (led by General Mark A. Welsh, III) while the United States left one Army battalion in Kurdistan, allowing them to train the Peshmerga and assist in "strategic control", similar to the ISAF in Afghanistan. Militarily, we felt very confident about Northern Iraq and Kurdistan. On July 5, American troops began the process of withdrawing from Iraq, save for the limited reserves that were now going to be formally stationed there until General Welsh felt comfortable leaving the Peshmerga on their own.

President Romney also tapped into the Presidents Club for phase four. He sent former President George W. Bush and Secretary Huntsman to Baghdad for a series of talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Iraqi President Fuad Masum with the goal of holding an independence referendum for Iraqi Kurdistan. President Masum was on board, as a Kurd, but it took several days for al-Abadi to even consider the idea. After promising that the United States would not end its aid to Iraq in favor of a Kurdistan-only policy, President Bush was able to convince al-Abadi to grant Iraqi Kurdistan a referendum on independence. Bush flew back the United States to receive much acclaim from the media and from Republican foreign policy experts while Secretary Huntsman stayed in Baghdad to work out the details of the referendum but the hard part was done; and all President Romney had to do to achieve it was pick up the phone to his predecessor.

Just as the United States was winning acclaim for preparing to "forge a lasting peace in Iraq", as Fox News put it, the United Kingdom was drawing ire. Prime Minister David Cameron announced on July 20 that the Brexit Referendum would be held on August 10, 2017. He also announced that, after months of re-negotiations with EU leaders, he would be voting and campaigning for the No Campaign. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi attacked Cameron for coming out as a supporter of the Brexit while serving his rotation as President of the European Council, calling it "an attack on the institution [Cameron is] leading". President Romney told me privately that he agreed with Merkel and Renzi that the No Campaign was a conflict of interest for Cameron and that he himself would not put himself in such a position, but, at a press conference, said “I believe that Mr. Cameron has the right to vote how he wishes in their referendum. He is a citizen of the United Kingdom just as much as anyone else.”

On the homefront, things were chugging along. The primaries were set in New Jersey and Virginia for their off-year elections. New Jersey was down to the son of a former Governor (Senate Minority Leader Thomas Keane, Jr.) against a former Governor (Richard Codey) while Virginia was between former RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie and Democratic Congressman Gerry Connolly. Polling showed Gillespie with a 2 point lead of Connolly, while Codey had a 6 point lead over Keane, Jr. President Romney, riding a wave of popularity, appeared at rallies in Newark, Trenton, and Atlantic City with Keane, Jr. and in Norfolk and Manassas with Gillespie. Vice President Rubio also campaigned for Republicans, focusing on drawing in minorities to Thomas Keane, Jr. in New Jersey. Outgoing RNC Chairman Reince Prebius declared “The Gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey are the most important events that will determine this party’s future in the 2018 Midterms” at the RNC meeting that was set to elect his successor, after Prebius announced he would ride off into the sunset after finally getting a Republican in the White House.

While the Chairman of the RNC is formally elected by the members of the committee, he is actually picked by the President (assuming the President is a Republican). In the Romney White House, that meant I created a shortlist and then the President picked from that. From the moment that Prebius announced his intentions to step down I was bombarded with phone calls, texts, emails, and handshakes from people who thought that they were the best candidate to replace the Wisconsinite. Congressmen Frank Guinta, David Schweikert, Michael McCaul, Ken Calvert, and Mario Diaz-Balart all stopped by my office on the same day to make their pitch, while Congresswomen Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Marsha Blackburn, and Virginia Foxx weren’t far behind. Senators John McCain and John Thune both stopped by, as well as former Senators Scott Brown, Pete Wilson, Connie Mack, III, Zell Miller, and Norm Coleman, Governors Robert Bentley, Chris Christie, and Nathan Deal, former Governors Jan Brewer, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bobby Jindall, Buddy Romer, and Jane Swift, and many more state and local officials, as well as several businessmen, all tried to push me towards their candidacy for Chairman. Meeting with Donald Trump and having to explain, in a polite way, that he was not a suitable candidate for Chairman of the Republican National Committee was one of the toughest meetings I’ve ever had.

The RNC was meeting in a special session in Boulder, Colorado on August 15 and Prebius wanted to know who the President liked by August 11. I met with the President on July 22 to talk over Prebius’ replacement. He told me he wanted someone with good management skills, who wasn’t overly partisan, and who would work well with the Administration. He also made it clear that he didn’t want to remove any one whose current seat – if a sitting politician – had even the slightest chance of falling to the Democrats. At the end of the day, this is the list I gave to President Romney on August 1, 2017. I met with each of the candidates in advance and did a thorough interview so that I could make a recommendation to the President right then and there.

Candidates for Chairman of the RNC
Former Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift
Tennessee Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn
Former California Senator Pete Wilson
San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer
Former Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman
Political Consultant Raynard Jackson

[Enderman]

Blackburn sounds like she'd be the best option, IMO.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I'd go with Blackburn too, if I were Romney.

[DKrol]

Chapter VIII: Death of a President...or Two

President Romney selected Raynard Jackson as the next Chairman of the Republican National Committee on August 5, citing his strong appeal to African American voters as the main reason. In a letter to Reince Prebius, the President wrote "[Jackson] can lead us towards a path of elect-ability like none of the other candidates can - he is our appeal to minorities that Michael Steele wasn't." Jackson and RNC Co-Chairman Sharon Day were both elected at the special meeting in Boulder on August 15. But no one was watching Boulder.

The Brexit Referendum was held, as scheduled, on August 10. A YouGov poll released on August 5 showed the two options - Stay and Leave - tied at 45% a piece, with 10% undecided. Prime Minister David Cameron campaigned across the country, trying to build support for leaving, citing unfair and unfavorable EU regulations. He was joined in the campaign to go by UKIP Leader Nigel Farage and Lord Lawson. Disgruntled Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn refused to campaign for either side, instead focusing on consolidating control over his party, which left the Stay campaign to be led by former Prime Minister John Major and Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn. On election night, voters sided with the far more popular former Prime Minister and voted 55%-45% to stay in the EU. Embarrassed, Cameron announced he would be stepping down as Leader of the Conservative Party and, therefore, Prime Minister.

President Romney immediately dispatched Secretary Huntsman to London to show that the Conservative government still had our support. I met with Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried and Ambassador to the UK Robert M. Kimmitt to discuss the future of the UK post-Cameron and the possibilities for the new Prime Minister. They told me that the Cameron's hand-picked successor was former London Mayor Boris Johnson, but that there was also support for other candidates like Chancellor George Osborne, Home Secretary Theresa May, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, and Secretary of State for Wales Stephen Crabb. Fried and Kimmitt agreed it would more than three months until the Tories could get in a conference and elected a successor, leaving Cameron in power until then.

Our attention turned back home just as quick as it went over seas. On August 20, I received a report from Houston that former President George H.W. Bush was critically ill. Within 24 hours he was dead at the age of 93. The funeral was the first time President Romney and former President Obama had met since the Inauguration and any iciness from the Chief Justice spat was gone. The President even invited Obama to join him on Air Force One for the flight back to Washington and to join him at the White House to talk over Operation Kurdish Freedom. Although he declined, I saw that the gesture clearly warmed up the 44th President.

Not two weeks after we buried the 41st President, the 39th fell ill. Jimmy Carter's brain cancer had returned, we were told, and the prognosis was bleak. President and Mrs. Romney flew to Plains, Georgia to meet with Carter before he passed, spending almost 12 hours at his bedside praying. No sooner had the President and First Lady returned to Washington than the reports of President Carter's death, on September 16, 2017, also at the age of 93. Just like that the Presidents Club shrunk from five to three. President Romney began to worry about his own mortality and asked me to look into plans for his funeral, the dispensation of his assets, and the building of his Presidential Library. He said "Put it in Salt Lake City. It was always more of a home to me than Boston even was."