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Trump Moving to Mend Fences in a Meeting With Romney
BEDMINSTER, N.J. — President-elect Donald J. Trump on Saturday moved to mend fences with political rivals after a divisive campaign, meeting with Mitt Romney, who had scathingly criticized him during the race as “a phony” and “a fraud,” to discuss naming him as secretary of state.
The
outreach signaled a change in tone one day after Mr. Trump moved to
elevate hard-liners to pivotal national security positions. It was not
clear whether Mr. Trump had offered the State Department post to Mr.
Romney, or whether Mr. Romney, who has broken sharply with him on
Russia, free trade and other issues, would accept if he did.
But
some strategists argued that merely by reaching out to Mr. Romney, Mr.
Trump was demonstrating an openness to new people and ideas, even from
the unlikeliest of sources. It may also have been intended to inject the
sort of unpredictability and spectacle into the transition process that
the president-elect thrives on.
During
a weekend of transition talks at Trump National Golf Club here in
Bedminster, Mr. Trump was scheduled to hold a series of discussions with
what his aides described as a diverse array of potential advisers. The
conversations were aimed at demonstrating that the president-elect was
willing to look beyond his loyal inner circle to fill his
administration.
Mr.
Trump met with Mr. Romney for about an hour and a half. Afterward, both
men exited the clubhouse and shook hands for the cameras. “Went great,”
Mr. Trump said, cupping his hands at his mouth to project his voice.
Mr. Romney then briefly addressed reporters, declining to say whether he
was interested in a cabinet position.
“We
had a far-reaching conversation with regard to the various theaters of
the world with interest to the United States of real significance,” Mr.
Romney said. “We discussed those areas and exchanged our views on those
topics. A very thorough and in-depth discussion over the time we had. I
appreciate the chance to speak with the president-elect and look forward
to the coming administration.”
Mr.
Romney did not answer reporters’ questions about whether he had
apologized to Mr. Trump for his criticism of him during the campaign.
Among
the others who were scheduled to meet with Mr. Trump were Michelle A.
Rhee, a Democrat who served as the chancellor of public schools in the
District of Columbia from 2007 to 2010, and Robert L. Woodson, an
African-American conservative who works on community-based anti-poverty
programs.
Mr.
Trump was also planning to meet, for the first time, with James N.
Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general who headed United States Central
Command and is being considered for the post of defense secretary.
On
Sunday, the president-elect is scheduled to meet with a similarly
wide-ranging group, including Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, whom he
removed as the chairman of his transition team days after the election;
Rudolph W. Giuliani, who has also been a contender for the secretary of
state post; and Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state, who has
pressed aggressive measures to crack down on undocumented immigrants.
The
meeting schedule, Jason Miller, a spokesman for Mr. Trump’s transition
team, said on Saturday, “really shows the reach and the depth to which
we are going to pull in diverse ideas and different perspectives as we
form this administration.”
“As
we’re working to bring the country together and move forward,” Mr.
Miller added in a conference call with reporters, “this shows really
where his head is as the next leader of our country.”
On
Friday, Mr. Trump moved to install Michael T. Flynn, a retired
lieutenant general bent on destroying Islamic extremism, as his national
security adviser, and he selected Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, an
immigration hard-liner, as his attorney general. Both were early
supporters of Mr. Trump’s campaign.
Mr.
Romney fits a decidedly different mold. Earlier this year, he said that
if Mr. Trump became the Republican nominee, “the prospects for a safe
and prosperous future are greatly diminished,” and he suggested that Mr.
Trump was dangerous and unstable. He deplored Mr. Trump’s personal
qualities: “the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the
absurd third-grade theatrics.”
But
if he took a cabinet post, Mr. Romney could serve as a moderating
influence on the hard-liners Mr. Trump has already selected, including
Representative Mike Pompeo of Kansas as C.I.A. director and Stephen K.
Bannon as chief strategist. It could also force Mr. Romney to defend
administration policies he did not believe in.
John
Feehery, a Republican strategist, said Mr. Trump was showing “great
magnanimity” by talking to Mr. Romney, the party’s 2012 nominee and a
former governor of Massachusetts. “I think it is meant to reassure some
of the establishment that he is going to reach out to them, and that’s
an important part of healing the party.”
Choosing
Ms. Rhee as education secretary “would show real disruption,” Mr.
Feehery added. But she is “also someone who has a real track record of
delivering the kind of results he’s looking for, and who the
establishment hates.”
Ms.
Rhee governed with a brash style as chancellor of Washington’s public
school system, which was struggling at the time to improve
underperforming schools and reverse below-average test scores. She
enraged teachers’ unions by firing teachers who had received poor
evaluations, renegotiating teacher contracts to weaken seniority
protections and tie their pay to student achievement, and endorsing
vouchers to allow poor students to attend private schools.
Ms.
Rhee, who founded the education advocacy group StudentsFirst, has been a
supporter of Common Core, a set of education standards that Mr. Trump
has said he will scrap.
Mr.
Trump traveled on Friday by motorcade to Bedminster. The trip was the
second time that Mr. Trump has left Manhattan since Election Day. The
other trip was to Washington, where he met with President Obama and
congressional Republicans.
The
country club is about an hour’s drive from Manhattan and on a rural
stretch. Mr. Trump bought the property in 2002 and built two 18-hole
golf courses on it. “When I saw this beautiful piece of property in
Bedminster, New Jersey, I knew that it deserved only the best,” Mr.
Trump was quoted as saying on the club’s website.
Dozens
of temporary orange signs that say passers-by cannot stop or park near
the course now line the road that leads to the club. Golfers with
caddies could be seen playing on Saturday as Secret Service personnel
and police officers stood guard at the club’s entrance.
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