Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee who will be sworn in as a United States Senate member from Utah on Thursday, wrote a Tuesday Washington Post editorial very critical of President Donald Trump. Romney warns in his anti-Trump torrent, “The alternative to US world leadership offered by China and Russia is autocratic, corrupt and brutal.”

Hold on and think about that for a moment.

If Romney’s supposition is correct, then the alternative to US world leadership is much like US world leadership. You need look no further than US wars in the last few decades, from Korea and Vietnam to Afghanistan and Iraq, to see that autocracy, corruption, and brutality are hallmarks of US world leadership.

Reprinted with permission from the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.