Donald Trump showed his true nature, leading Mitt Romney to implore Americans to vote for someone who would not “change the character of the generations of the Americans that are following”, the 2012 Republican nominee for president explained. “Presidents have an impact on the nature of our nation, and trickle-down racism, trickle-down bigotry, trickle-down misogyny, all these things are extraordinarily risky to the heart and character of America”.
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CNN host Wolf Blitzer asked if the governor could get on board with supporting a couple of other former GOP governors: the Libertarian ticket of former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld.
Do you believe Mitt Romney that a Donald Trump presidency would cause “trickle-down racism” in America? “It’s more a matter of character and integrity”.
“I wish everybody in the Republican Party had rejected Mr. Trump and chosen someone else”, Romney said. “Had I been in the race, I can assure you I would have taken him on”.
Senior party figures, especially those facing close races in November, appear to be distancing themselves formally from the Trump campaign.
“There’s something in those taxes that’s even worse than shooting someone on Fifth Avenue”, Romney said, referencing a joke Trump made during his primary campaign that he could shoot somebody in the middle of the street and not lose the backing of his supporters.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is considered to be a favorite for Trump’s running mate, also condemned Trump’s words.
“We learned from our loss in 2012 that we need to get out and engage people and have a personal conversation with them and get a pulse on what the issues are that they’re concerned about”, Walters said. “Now he calls me racist-but I am least racist person there is”.
At Mitt Romney’s annual ideas summit, House Speaker Paul Ryan urged party unity, amid a presidential campaign that has been anything but harmonious.
As many have done in the past few months, Blitzer asked Romney about the possibility of running as a third party candidate.
The Republican Party is also divided over Trump, a TV reality-star candidate who has questionable conservative credentials and no political experience.
During the portion of a presentation Friday morning titled “A Changing World” that the media was allowed in to hear, Buzzfeed’s Ben Smith said Trump may define media this election cycle, just as Twitter and other innovations have in the past.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is set to address the E2 group Saturday.
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Romney, however, shot down the the suggestion that he would wage another White House run.
