Republican Sen. Mitt Romney’s decision to participate in a Black Lives Matter protest was not only a big surprise, but a powerful signal as well.

Romney’s presence with Black Lives Matter should be a clear sign that neither Black Lives Matter nor the issues of systemic racism and police violence are issues which legitimately need to be exclusively partisan left-leaning or Democratic.

“We need a voice against racism, many voices against racism and brutality, we need to stand up and say that black lives matter,” Romney said.

Black Lives Matter. pic.twitter.com/JpXUFlxH2J

— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) June 7, 2020

It’s an exponential step forward that a conservative Republican like Romney is willing to be one of those voices, because Donald Trump’s behavior over the last couple of weeks–and certainly longer–clearly indicates that he’s never going to be.

Rather than play at violent autocrat–having peaceful protesters at the White House cleared away with rubber bullets and tear gas, as Trump did last week just to hold his political “photo op” at a local Washington DC church–a better president would see this growing coast-to-coast movement of protests which have sprung up in response to the brutal killing of African American George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody and made it his own.

That president, not only would speak to –and attempt to heal–the nation, he would have seen the saliency of the issues at play and become their champion. It’s not only the right thing to do but potent political issues as well.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is working diligently to become that champion. Mitt Romney’s in a position to be such a champion for the same issues on the other side of the aisle and encourage other Republicans to join him.

That’s great news, because we need all the voices possible in the presidential-sized hole left by Trump’s violence, racism and ineptitude.

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