According to Roger Stone (a Trump adviser):
Donald Trump was interviewing Mitt Romney for secretary of State in order to torture him… To toy with him.[ref]Via The Hill[/ref]
That might be all there is to it. Far be it from me to put pure pettiness past Trump. But whatever the motives, the move comes with an important fringe benefit for Trump. From now on, whenever Romney criticizes Trump, the Trump team can spin it nothing more than sour grapes.
I’m loathe to give Trump credit as some kind of political savant just because he won. I’m more inclined to give credit to larger political forces and sheer dumb luck. But that kind of sabotage doesn’t seem outside the realm of possibility. It’s a petty, but useful, way to neutralize the most visible and respected #NeverTrump Republican.[ref]The fact that a lot of credulous people depicted Romney’s carefully-worded statements as sucking up to Trump is just another way to undermine a potent critic.[/ref]
But since Romney was critical of Trump long before the Secretary of State issue, I would think Romney’s criticisms would seem authentic based on that alone. He clearly had major problems with Trump before sour grapes could be a factor.
I think you’re absolutely right, but I also think you’re a lot more perceptive than a substantial portion of Trump supporters.
Interesting and relevant: Mitt Romney apparently lost the Sec State position because he refused to apologize for the remarks he made about Trump during the election. It is very sad to me that one someone with actual principles shows up on the scene, we can’t even recognize them anymore.