“He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president”, Romney is expected to say. Accepting, Romney said it was a “delight” to have Trump on his side and praised him for ability to “understand how our economy works and to create jobs for the American people”.
Advertisement
The 2012 Republican nominee’s speech marks his most aggressive step into the 2016 contest to date, but it was unclear what impact his words would have with voters deeply frustrated by their party’s leaders. The loss, Trump charged, was “an embarrassment”.
Diplomatically, he listed Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich and said “one of these men should be our nominee”.
The former MA governor closed the door to another White house run on January 30.
And when House Speaker Paul Ryan said the Republican Party “does not prey on people’s prejudices”, Trump verbally smacked him, saying that if he and Ryan didn’t get along, “he’s going to have to pay a big price”. At the same time, Ryan reiterated that he will support the eventual GOP nominee. That echoes the worries of dozens of leading conservative defense and foreign policy officials.
But even as the former Republican standard bearer tries to lead the effort to stop Trump, the belated push may only reinforce the real estate mogul’s appeal. Orrin Hatch told CNN, “If the convention is locked up, there’s a possibility” Romney would run for president. That person was not authorized to discuss the plans publicly and spoke only on condition of anonymity.
In a letter released Wednesday evening, former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and more than 70 other experts say they have disagreed with one another on a variety of issues but are united in their opposition to a Trump presidency.
Romney, who was soundly defeated by President Barack Obama in his 2012 re-election, joins a growing chorus of anxious Republican leaders that many Trump supporters see as establishment figures. “When you hit back, you’re no longer presidential, unfortunately”, he said. We have to keep trade, nobody knows more about trade than me. “A business genius he is not”, Romney said.
“He was a failed candidate”.
The back-and-forth comes as Republican candidates prepared for the first post-Super Tuesday debate, scheduled for Thursday night. Trump also said that Romney begged for his support four years ago and would have “dropped to his knees” to get it.
It is clear that Romney thinks a Trump nomination is troublesome for both the Republican Party and the country. “I could have said, ‘Mitt, drop to your knees, ‘ and he would have dropped to his knees”.
Advertisement
The letter says Trump’s vision of “American influence and power in the world is wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle”.
