--- title: President Trump Just Undermined Mitt Romney, Again description: When President Trump visited Utah on Monday, he subtly undermined Mitt Romney by encouraging Senator Orrin Hatch to run for reelection. canonical: https://time.com/5048440/donald-trump-mitt-romney-utah-senate/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-04T20:30:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:26:57.926Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Just Undermined Mitt Romney, Again og:description: The latest move in their long-running feud. og:url: https://time.com/5048440/donald-trump-mitt-romney-utah-senate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3edcbc85a372ea8/6988af250a4a2217eb9cc1cc/donald-trump-mitt-romney.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Mitt Romney,Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Just Undermined Mitt Romney, Again twitter:description: The latest move in their long-running feud. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3edcbc85a372ea8/6988af250a4a2217eb9cc1cc/donald-trump-mitt-romney.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Just Undermined Mitt Romney, Again > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Dec 4, 2017 8:30 PM UTC  President-elect Donald Trump gives the thumbs-up as Mitt Romney leaves Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in Bedminster, N.J., on Nov. 19, 2016. President-elect Donald Trump gives the thumbs-up as Mitt Romney leaves Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in Bedminster, N.J., on Nov. 19, 2016. Carolyn Kaster—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Dec 4, 2017 8:30 PM UTC When President Trump visited Utah on Monday, he subtly undermined Mitt Romney in the latest chapter of their tortured relationship. The pool reporters traveling with Trump asked him if he was encouraging Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, also on the trip, to run for reelection. “Yes,” Trump responded. There has been buzz that former Massachusetts governor would run for Hatch’s Senate seat if the 83 year old decides to retire after his seventh term. Citing five unnamed sources, [_The Atlantic_ reported](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/10/hatch-romney/544211/) recently that “Senator Orrin Hatch has privately told allies in Utah that he is planning to retire at the end of his term next year, and if he does, Mitt Romney intends to run for his seat.” Asked in Utah if he is trying to send a signal that he doesn’t want Romney to run for the seat, Trump paused and said, “He’s a good man, Mitt’s a good man,” according to the pool report. Though Romney successfully sought Trump’s endorsement in his 2012 run, their relationship has been contentious since the 2016 election, when Trump called Romney a “choke artist” for losing the 2012 election and Romney gave [a speech](http://time.com/4813499/mitt-romney-hillary-clinton-secretary-of-state/) calling Trump a “phony” and a “fraud.” After Trump won, he publicly courted Romney for secretary of state, before offering the gig to Rex Tillerson instead. Romney [later revealed](http://time.com/4813499/mitt-romney-hillary-clinton-secretary-of-state/) that he “would’ve accepted the job.” More recently, Romney wrote a [passionate criticism](http://time.com/4906506/mitt-romney-president-trump-charlottesville/) of Trump’s response to the riots in Charlottesville, calling it a “defining moment” for the presidency. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5048440/donald-trump-mitt-romney-utah-senate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5048440/donald-trump-mitt-romney-utah-senate/"},"headline":"President Trump Just Undermined Mitt Romney, Again","datePublished":"2017-12-04T20:30:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:26:57.926Z","description":"When President Trump visited Utah on Monday, he subtly undermined Mitt Romney by encouraging Senator Orrin Hatch to run for reelection.","url":"https://time.com/5048440/donald-trump-mitt-romney-utah-senate/","keywords":["White House","Congress","mitt romney","Donald Trump","onetime","president trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3edcbc85a372ea8/6988af250a4a2217eb9cc1cc/donald-trump-mitt-romney.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3edcbc85a372ea8/6988af250a4a2217eb9cc1cc/donald-trump-mitt-romney.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Mitt Romney,Donald Trump","caption":"President-elect Donald Trump gives the thumbs-up as Mitt Romney leaves Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in Bedminster, N.J., Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016. 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