File-This Oct. 9, 2018, file photo shows Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mitt Romney answering a question about tariffs during the debate with Democratic opponent Jenny Wilson in the America First Event Center in Cedar City, Utah. Utah Sen.-elect Romney says President Donald Trump's "conduct over the past two years ... is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office." Romney, who was the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, is praising some of Trump's policy decisions in a Washington Post op-ed published Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2019. But he adds: "With the nation so divided, resentful and angry, presidential leadership in qualities of character is indispensable. And it is in this province where the incumbent's shortfall has been most glaring."(James M. Dobson/The Spectrum via AP, File)

WASHINGTON | Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee and incoming Utah senator, has made it apparent he wants to stand out from other Republicans in the new Congress with an unyielding attack on President Donald Trump’s leadership and character, triggering what could become a new rivalry in the GOP ranks.

File-This Oct. 9, 2018, file photo shows Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mitt Romney answering a question about tariffs during the debate with Democratic opponent Jenny Wilson in the America First Event Center in Cedar City, Utah. Utah Sen.-elect Romney says President Donald Trump’s “conduct over the past two years … is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office.” Romney, who was the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, is praising some of Trump’s policy decisions in a Washington Post op-ed published Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2019. But he adds: “With the nation so divided, resentful and angry, presidential leadership in qualities of character is indispensable. And it is in this province where the incumbent’s shortfall has been most glaring.”(James M. Dobson/The Spectrum via AP, File)
File-This Oct. 9, 2018, file photo shows Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mitt Romney answering a question about tariffs during the debate with Democratic opponent Jenny Wilson in the America First Event Center in Cedar City, Utah. Utah Sen.-elect Romney says President Donald Trump’s “conduct over the past two years … is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office.” Romney, who was the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, is praising some of Trump’s policy decisions in a Washington Post op-ed published Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2019. But he adds: “With the nation so divided, resentful and angry, presidential leadership in qualities of character is indispensable. And it is in this province where the incumbent’s shortfall has been most glaring.”(James M. Dobson/The Spectrum via AP, File)

Romney laid to rest expectations that he would take his time getting his footing in Washington. Instead, he wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post, two days before being sworn into office, that said Trump’s “conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions last month, is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office.”

Trump replied by tweeting he hoped Romney wouldn’t follow in the footsteps of Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who was often critical of Trump and paid the price, opting to retire rather than risk defeat in a GOP primary.

“Here we go with Mitt Romney, but so fast! Question will be, is he a Flake? I hope not,” Trump tweeted. “Would much prefer that Mitt focus on Border Security and so many other things where he can be helpful. I won big, and he didn’t. He should be happy for all Republicans. Be a TEAM player & WIN!”

By taking on Trump so early in his Senate career, Romney could be picking up where Flake and Sen. Bob Coker, R-Tenn., another retiring senator, left off.

Both Republicans were vocal GOP critics of Trump, and their retirements left some unsure whether any other Republicans would be willing to publicly criticize the president. Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., noted that almost half of the Senate Republicans are up for re-election” in 2020.

“They just saw what happened in 2018,” Durbin said, when Republicans lost the House majority in November. “I think, once they do polling back home, not all of them, but many of them will find that independence is being rewarded.”

Romney has had his public confrontations with the president before and tried to prevent him from winning the GOP nomination in 2016. In one speech, he said there was plenty of evidence that Trump was “a con man, a fake.” In that same speech, he said “dishonesty is Donald Trump’s hallmark.”

But after the presidential election, Romney eased off the criticism and interviewed to become Trump’s secretary of state. Trump opted for former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson, who lasted about 14 months before Trump fired him.

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