Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Republican nominee in the 2012 U.S. presidential election, is being touted as a prospect for nomination as U.S. Secretary of State in the Trump administration.

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CNN reports:

President-elect Donald Trump will meet this weekend with one of his fiercest critics: 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney, a discussion that could include the position of secretary of state. … Romney has long told friends that he would like to serve in government again and the one job he is interested in is secretary of state, a senior Republican with knowledge of the transition tells CNN.

Based on his psychological profile, Gov. Romney earns high marks for temperamental fitness and would be a safe choice for the position.

Romney fits the profile of the dutiful conformist. Leaders with this particular personality profile are characteristically prudent, proper, dignified, dependable, and more principled than most personality types. They are highly organized, with a strong work ethic and careful attention to detail, which accounts in part for Romney’s resounding success in organizational and corporate management and financial restructuring.

More » The Political Personality of 2012 Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney. Paper presented at the 35th Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, Chicago, IL, July 6–9, 2012. Abstract and link for full-text (35 pages; PDF) download at Digital Commons: http://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/psychology_pubs/98/

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, a contender for the Republican nomination in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, has expressed strong interest in being considered for this key cabinet post.

CNN reports:

Rudy Giuliani has been mentioned for several potential Cabinet positions in Donald Trump’s administration, but it was clear … that he really wants to be secretary of state. The former New York City mayor spoke Monday about his foreign policy vision at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council and, according to the Wall Street Journal’s description, Giuliani “suggested several times that he would be interested in the (Secretary of State) post.”

Based on his psychological profile, Mayor Giuliani would be a riskier choice for Secretary of State, despite the fact that he is close to President-elect Donald Trump.

Giuliani fits the profile of the aggressive enforcer. Leaders with this particular personality profile are characteristically tough and uncompromising rather than diplomatic, with a forceful style that permits them to take charge in times of crisis.

More » The Political Personalities of 2008 Republican Presidential Contenders John McCain and Rudy Giuliani. Paper presented at the 30th Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, Portland, OR, July 4–7, 2007. Abstract and link for full-text (30 pages; PDF) download at Digital Commons: http://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/psychology_pubs/28/

Topical reports

Secretary of State Nominee Should ‘Complement’ Trump’s Approach

Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker (Photo: Jose Luis Magana via TPM Livewire)

By Caitlin MacNeal
Talking Points Memo
November 17, 2016

Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), who would likely oversee the confirmation hearings for Donald Trump’s secretary of state nominee as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, said on Thursday that the President-elect “approaches things with an exclamation point” and so needs a secretary of state to “complement” his style.

During an interview on MSNBC, Corker said it would not be appropriate for him to “handicap” potential nominees since he’s likely to oversee the confirmation process. Host Andrea Mitchell then asked what qualities Corker is looking for in a secretary of state nominee, noting that Rudy Giuliani, Newt Gingrich, and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley have all been floated as candidates.

Corker said that Trump needs someone to balance him out.

“We have a president who, let’s face it, approaches things with an exclamation point. I mean, when he does it, he does it in a big way,” the senator said. “And I think what might be good is someone to complement that and to be able to pragmatically go about making things happen in the kind of way that furthers our country’s national interest.”

He also said that the nominee to lead the State Department should have foreign policy experience.

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Note: Mitt Romney is a good fit for Sen. Corker’s description of a pragmatist capable of making things happen.

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Is Mitt Romney Qualified to be Donald Trump’s Secretary of State?

November 19, 2016 — Washington Post political correspondent Philip Rucker tells TODAY that he believes Gov. Mitt Romney is qualified to be secretary of state if he were to be selected by President-elect Donald Trump. Rucker calls Gov. Nikki Haley, another person said to be on the list, a “blank slate” who could travel the world promoting Trump’s vision because “she doesn’t have her own hardened world view the way John Bolton does.” (02:54)

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Donald Trump’s Bottomless Secretarial Pool

By Frank Bruni

December 10, 2016

Excerpts

Mitt Romney took a pass on the television bragging and, apart from smiling for photographers during his dinner with Trump in one of the magnate’s shimmering Manhattan hotels, kept the sycophancy to a minimum. He didn’t do what some in Trump World would have liked and issue some extravagant apology for that blistering anti-Trump speech during the Republican primaries.

But he had hair and handsomeness in his favor. The Times’s Maggie Haberman and Jeremy Peters reported that he appealed to the president-elect in part because he was “a camera-ready option to represent the country around the globe.” I’m convinced that being camera-unready undid me. To Trump, all the world is baubles, and he reaches reflexively for the shiniest one. …

And what fun to advertise the plenitude of suitors and extend the orgy of self-congratulation. Last week Rex Tillerson, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, was suddenly en route to Trump Tower. …

Read the full opinion column, which refers to Trump’s “tortured psyche: the bloated ego, the boundless need, the capriciousness, the obsession with appearances.”

Related reports on Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney’s Personality Profile (June 2, 2011)

As shown in the pie chart, Romney has a primarily Conscientious-dutiful personality, complemented by secondary Dominant-asserting, Ambitious-confident, and Accommodating-cooperative features and a minor Retiring-reserved tendency.

Mitt Romney’s Leadership Style (Sept. 3, 2012)

Research assistants Amanda Nusbaum and Feiran Chen presented their research on “The Personality Profile of 2012 Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney” at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn., July 30, 2012.

Why Mitt Romney Won’t Be President — In Theory (Oct. 29, 2012)

Aubrey Immelman and Andrew Obritsch in Chicago at the annual scientific meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology to present their research on Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, July 2012.

What Role for Rudy Giuliani in Trump Administration, If Not Secretary of State? (Nov. 20, 2016)

Rudy Giuliani with Donald Trump during a campaign event in August 2016. (Photo credit: Getty Images via The Telegraph)

Rudy Giuliani’s Personality Profile (Nov. 25, 2016)

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