Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) tore into Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) for suggesting the United States undergo a "national divorce" — a euphemism for Republican-controlled states seceding from the country, akin to the South in during the Civil War.
Romney gave the comments to Utah reporters in Salt Lake City, according to Deseret.
"Sen. Mitt Romney on Tuesday firmly denounced Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s recent call for a 'national divorce,' harkening back on what happened in the U.S. during the Civil War," reported Katie McKellar. "'You know, I think Abraham Lincoln dealt with that kind of insanity,' the Utah Republican told reporters during a brief press availability during his visit with lawmakers at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City. 'We’re not going to divide the country. It’s united we stand, divided we fall,' Romney said."
Greene, a far-right lawmaker closely tied to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), is known for having pushed the QAnon conspiracy theory, proposed this secession scheme in a tweet on Monday. "We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government," she wrote. "Everyone I talk to says this. From the sick and disgusting woke culture issues shoved down our throats to the Democrat’s traitorous America Last policies, we are done."
Secession is unconstitutional. Moreover, the last time it was attempted, the ensuing war claimed the lives of 620,000 Americans and resulted in the general destruction and rebuilding of the South.
This comes shortly after another prominent Utah Republican, Gov. Spencer Cox, also came out in condemnation of Greene's comments on Twitter. “This rhetoric is destructive and wrong and — honestly — evil,” he wrote. “We don’t need a divorce, we need marriage counseling. And we need elected leaders that don’t profit by tearing us apart.”