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fingertips at mpr.org. This is fresh air I I'm Dave Davies. Try as you may, you won't find many prominent

Republicans in the US uttering a harsh word about Donald Trump. Unless that is,

you read the new biography of Utah Senator Mitt Romney by my guest Atlantic staff writer McKay Coppins.

In it for example, Romney reports that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told him

around the time of the first Trump impeachment trial that the president is

quote an idiot who doesn't think when he says things.

McKay's book is full of anecdotes that have generated buzz among the Washington

press corps, but it's more than that.

It's a remarkable account of Romney's reflecting on his many decades in politics, including his term as governor of Massachusetts,

his two unsuccessful runs for president, his entry to the Senate in his 70s, and his many efforts

to thwart Donald Trump's drives for the White House, which continue today.

Romney, currently a senator from Utah, has announced he won't seek re-election in 2024.

Romney gave McKay long interviews,

as well as hundreds of pages of private journals,

personal correspondence, and sensitive emails

for his research.

In the book, Romney considers how his party has become one in which, as he put it, many of its

members don't believe in the Constitution, and he reflects on his role in enabling changes he finds so troubling.

McKay Coppins covers national politics, religion, and the media for the Atlantic.

...