Mitt Romney, Republican sphinx

Why the Utah senator keeps defying characterization

Mitt Romney.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock)

Mitt Romney has always been something of a sphinx. That was true during his 2012 presidential run when he was forever coming off as a kind of right-wing text-to-speech program. And it's true today, as he has emerged as the populist ideas man in the GOP Senate when only months ago he was the nation's premier Never Trump Republican.

This whipsawing has many on the right asking again: Who is Mitt Romney?

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Matt Purple

Matt Purple is a senior editor at The American Conservative. He's also a contributor to the Spectator USA and has written for National Review, Reason, The National Interest, and many others. A native of Connecticut, he lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife and son.