Clip: Mitt Romney's failed attempt to 'save' the Republican Party

Jeffrey Goldberg: Somewhat miraculously, Pete Hegseth, the Fox Morning host chosen by President-elect Trump to lead the world's most powerful military, is still in the game tonight after a week of stunning revelations about his private life and personal demons. The drama around Hegseth has diverted attention from Trump's choice to run the FBI, Kash Patel, the most loyal of loyalists, who appears ready to use his power to prosecute Trump's enemies.

Joining me tonight to discuss all this, McKay Coppins, my colleague and a staff writer at The Atlantic, he's also the author of Romney, A Reckoning, Jane Mayer is a staff writer at The New Yorker, and Tarini Parti is a national politics reporter for The Wall Street Journal. Thank you all for joining me tonight. I appreciate it.

Let's start with the Washington that was. This week, Mitt Romney said goodbye to the Senate.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT): There are some today who would tear at our unity, who would replace love with hate, who deride our foundation of virtue, or who debase the values upon which the blessings of heaven depend.

I will leave this chamber with a sense of achievement, but in truth, I will also leave with the recognition that I did not achieve everything I had hoped.

Jeffrey Goldberg: McKay, you're Romney's biographer. What was his last week like for him in a Senate where he has actually very few friends in his own party?

McKay Coppins, Staff Writer, The Atlantic: I think it really underscored just how much He's leaving Washington almost worse off than he found it. And I don't think it's his own fault. But you have to remember when he ran for Senate in 2018, it was in the early years of Trump's first term. And there was still space in the party for Trump critics like him. And he had this strong belief that he could get to the Senate and steer the Republican Party away from what he considered the toxic elements of Trumpism.

And he got to the Senate, very quickly learned that all the political incentives flowed in the opposite direction, that while many of his colleagues would privately say that they agreed with him, they wouldn't join him publicly. And he kind of became this lone voice in the wilderness.

And I think that this last week, as the Senate is fighting over these, by many accounts, pretty extreme nominees for Trump's second term, it really shows just how much his project kind of failed to save the Republican Party.

Jeffrey Goldberg: I'm really struck by the fact, and this is something that Senator Romney said to you. Well, you tell us what Senator Romney said to you about J.D. Vance, the now vice president-elect of the United States.

McKay Coppins: Yes. Well, at the time when I was writing my book I was talking to him about J.D. Vance, who was then running for Senate, and he was kind of in the midst of his MAGA makeover, remaking his public persona, becoming much more belligerent and controversial and towing the Trump line. And Romney actually said to me, it would be hard for me to disrespect somebody more than J.D. Vance.

Jeffrey Goldberg: Yes. And now, Tarini, we're watching Romney leave and J.D. Vance about to be sworn in as vice president of the United States. The Republican Party in Washington, wholly owned subsidiary of Donald Trump, is that fair at this point, more than any time even in the first term?

Tarini Parti, White House Reporter, The Wall Street Journal: Definitely. I mean, it is Trump's party, and there is going to be this big vacuum that Romney's leaving behind, and it'll be a test for Senate Republicans to see if there's going to be anyone willing to get even close to filling that vacuum. It seems unlikely.

There are a few senators who have expressed some concerns about some of the nominations that Trump has put forward, but the type of, you know, not just vocal criticism of Trump, but the fact that Romney, you know, voted to impeach him twice, taking that extra step, I think we'll see very few Republicans making those moves.

Jeffrey Goldberg: Jane, how big a variable -- and I want to get to Pete Hegseth in a second, but how big a variable is this idea of a newly liberated Mitch McConnell, not in leadership anymore, obviously, in the twilight years of his Senate career, how likely does it seem to you, as a veteran Washington observer, that he's going to be unleashed and play not the Romney role or the Liz Cheney role, but play more of a role of saying that's too much, we're not doing that?

Jane Mayer, Staff Writer, The New Yorker: Well, I actually got a chance to talk to him about it recently. And he was looking very happy at the idea that he is liberated and that he can push back a little bit more. He thinks against Trump. And as you know, I mean --

Jeffrey Goldberg: Certainly, they don't like each other.

Jane Mayer: Trump calls him the old crow. I think that's what his --

Jeffrey Goldberg: And so that's an insult. I just want to be clear.

Jane Mayer: And you know, I mean, and one of the things that that McConnell has said recently is that, absolutely, there will be no recess appointments. As you know, Trump has said he was going to put his people in recess appointments, skip the role of the Senate, which is, you know, to advise and consent and have confirmation hearings. Trump thought he could just do away with that and McConnell has said there will be no recess appointments.

Jeffrey Goldberg: Right. So, I mean, it might be somewhat satisfying.

Jane Mayer: They're somewhat at each other, you know, but the truth is, I mean, well, we'll talk about these nominees. I mean, really, what we're looking at is a test of the Senate's power, really.