I cannot get past that 17-minute tongue-lashing that Mitt Romney delivered to Donald J. Trump during the heat of the Republican Party’s primary campaign for president.

Mitt let Trump have it, man. He delivered the most stinging rebuke of someone seeking his party’s nomination that I’ve ever heard.

Trump ended up winning the nomination and then winning the presidential election.

Now we see Trump and Mitt breaking bread at a posh New York City restaurant and Trump considering Mitt to become the nation’s next secretary of state.

What on Earth has Mitt said to Trump that enables the president-elect to consider him for this post? Did he take it all back? Did he admit to saying those things only for effect? Was he seeking to be “entertaining,” the way Trump said he was denigrating women only for entertainment sake?

A part of me thinks Trump needs someone of Mitt’s stature to carry the nation’s foreign policy forward. Whatever it is!

Then again, Mitt issued that blistering critique of the next president of the United States.

Here’s the video of Mitt’s remarks. If you haven’t seen it, take a gander. It’s worth your time. Then someone out there can tell me how the 2012 Republican nominee — whom Trump dismissed as a “loser” — can make nice with the guy who received these rhetorical bombs.