Mitt Romney Meets with Donald Trump Again; But Is It All a Ruse?

Mitt Romney met with President-elect Donald Trump for a second time Tuesday night, reportedly talking a Secretary of State post even as members of the Trump's inner circle blatantly bash Romney and commentators speculate the whole event's a sham designed to inflict maximum embarrassment on the former Republican presidential candidate.

According to The Washington Post, the two talked over a dinner that started with frog legs and ended in chocolate cake and gushing support from the former Massachusetts governor Tuesday night at the Jean-Georges restaurant at Trump International Hotel & Tower New York.

Romney is one of several names on the Secretary of State shortlist. Trump also talked this week with retired general and ex-CIA head David Petraeus, a meeting that left Trump "very impressed!" according to a tweet from the President-elect. According to a press pool report shared by Politico, Trump was to meet with six others Tuesday, including Senate Foreign Relations Chair Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), also reportedly under consideration for Secretary of State.

Although numerous names are under consideration, Romney has captured the media's imagination, for the drama of the moment if no other reason.

The pair, bitter opponents during the 2016 campaign, met earlier this month at Trump's New Jersey golf course, apparently putting aside their differences to discuss a place for Romney in the administration. Soon after, however, chief Trump surrogates, including his former campaign manager, took to the airwaves for some no-holds-barred Romney-bashing.

Read More: Mitt Romney Not Feeling the Love from Trump Camp

All this has led to rising speculation that these attacks aren't so much Trump's confidants going off-message as them carrying out a calculated plot to undermine and abuse Romney in the press before Trump delivers the ultimate humiliation: opting for another candidate.

The seeming-conspiracy theory was muttered about on social media over the weekend by Trump detractors, but grew genuine legs this week, including two columns this morning in the Boston Globe.

Writes Kevin Cullen,

When Romney went to Trump’s golf club in New Jersey to discuss the possibility of joining his Cabinet, it was like that scene in “Goodfellas” when Tommy DeVito, played by Joe Pesci, goes to a house in New York, expecting to be inducted into the Mafia. Tommy was ebullient, thinking he was about to realize a lifelong dream of being a “made” guy. But the whole thing was a setup.

Fellow columnist Joan Vennochi took a similar tact, assessing campaign manager Kellyanne Conway and others' commentary before summing up:

“Don’t waste any time shooting Trump’s messenger. Those are Trump’s thoughts coming out of Conway’s mouth.”

Conway, for her part, has said in interviews and on Twitter that she is reacting to a "breathtaking" swell of grassroots opposition to Romney. She has said she'll respect the President-elect's decision, but wanted to publicly air her concerns (and, contrary to numerous headlines, did so with Trump's blessing, according to a statement shared with the New York Times).

Conway, along with Trump campaign chief executive Steve Bannon, is slated to attending a political forum this week at Harvard University. Protests are already planned.

Images via Gage Skidmore, Flickr/Creative Commons