Washington DC - Mitt Romney is going down swinging – the Utah senator on Wednesday announced he won't be seeking reelection, but judging by an excerpt from his upcoming biography, he has plenty to say about politics, and specifically, the GOP.

Romney's bombshell retirement news coincided with The Atlantic publishing a section from an authorized biography written by journalist McKay Coppins.

Titled Romney: A Reckoning, the book will contain some startling comments from the former Massachusetts governor, mostly directed at the state of his party.

The excerpts paint a picture of a thoroughly disillusioned man, struggling to make sense of the Republican descent into extremism and his colleagues' terrified deference to former President Donald Trump.

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Coppins reports conversations in which Romney rages at fellow senators, who first ignored his eerily prescient warnings about the January 6 attack on the Capitol, then rallied to Trump's side during the post-riot impeachment proceedings.

The 76-year-old repeatedly quotes Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, saying: "Morons. I've got morons on my team!"

In one of the most striking passages, Coppins describes Romney coming up with two categories for his Republican colleagues: the "sincerely crazy" and the ones "faking it for votes."

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson is mentioned in the first category, mocked for believing in any and every conspiracy. Chief among those in the second is the far-right Josh Hawley of Missouri, who is described as being smart enough to "know better."

Romney's fear for his own life is also obvious throughout. "There are deranged people among us," he is quoted as saying, pointing out that "people carry guns."

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Despite being at pains to point himself as out-of-step with the current Republican Party, Romney has toed the line in over 95% of congressional votes. And despite his very public rejection of Trump, he followed his lead 75% of the time during the ex-president's term.

In the video announcing his retirement, Romney highlighted the need to "address entitlements" as one of the major challenges of any prospective presidential candidate.