Failed 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney is lobbying to be picked as Donald Trump’s Secretary of State, so perhaps Trump’s team should review all of Romney’s undiplomatic statements from 2015 and 2016 about the future Commander in Chief.
1. Romney indicated last June he would never serve in a Trump Administration, when talking to attendees at his “Experts and Enthusiasts Summit” or “E2” meeting in Utah. The meeting took place at the resort where Romney announced his 2012 campaign for the presidency, according to the Washington Post. “Had there been a President Bush or a President [Marco] Rubio or a President [Scott] Walker, I might’ve been happy to be a part of their administration,” Romney told “hundreds of his donors and business partners,” according to CNN.
2. Romney’s infamous March 3 Trump-bashing speech at the University of Utah included a stream of vehement #NeverTrump commentary.
Let me put it plainly, if we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished … He inherited his business, he didn’t create it … A business genius he is not … What he said on “60 Minutes” about Syria and ISIS has to go down as the most ridiculous and dangerous idea of the campaign season: Let ISIS take out Assad, he said, and then we can pick up the remnants … I’m afraid that when it comes to foreign policy he is very, very not smart …
Dishonesty is Donald Trump’s hallmark … His is not the temperament of a stable, thoughtful leader. His imagination must not be married to real power … Think of Donald Trump’s personal qualities, the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third grade theatrics. We have long referred to him as “The Donald.” He is the only person in America to whom we have added an article before his name. It wasn’t because he had attributes we admired … a Trump nomination enables [Hillary Clinton’s] victory …
I predict that there are more bombshells in his tax returns. I predict that he doesn’t give much if anything to the disabled and to our veterans. I predict that he told the New York Times that his immigration talk is just that: talk…If I’m right, you will have all the proof you need to know that Donald Trump is a phony … Mr. Trump is directing our anger for less than noble purposes …
Here’s what I know. Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He’s playing the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House and all we get is a lousy hat. His domestic policies would lead to recession. His foreign policies would make America and the world less safe. He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president. And his personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill.
3. Romney and other NeverTrumpers attempted to recruit a third party challenger to Trump.
When asked at the American Friends of The Hebrew University awards ceremony on May 5 if he would run as an independent in the presidential race, according to the Washington Examiner, Romney replied: “No, I’m certainly going to be hoping that we find someone who I have my confidence in who becomes nominee. I don’t intend on supporting either of the major-party candidates at this point.”
4. CNN noted in June that Romney had not ruled out voting for Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson and that if Bill Weld had been at the top of the ticket, “…it would be very easy for me to vote for Bill Weld for president.”
5. On location at Romney’s “E2” summit in June, which hosted many NeverTrumpers, he gave an exclusive interview to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
[Wolf Blitzer]: You don’t believe he can change?
[Romney]: …I believe he can hide who he is, but I believe who he is has been revealed by his lifetime and by the words in the campaign that he has spoken to this point …
I don’t think there’s anything I’m looking for from Mr. Trump to give him my support. He’s demonstrated who he is and I’ve decided that a person of that nature should not be the one who, um, if you will, becomes the example for coming generations or the example of America to the world … Look, I don’t want to see trickle down racism. I don’t want to see a President of the United States saying things which change the character of the generations of Americans that are following …
Trickle down racism, trickle down bigotry, trickle down misogyny, all these things are extraordinarily dangerous to the heart and character of America and and and so I’m not, I’m not looking for Mr. Trump to change a policy that more aligns with my own, this is not a matter of just policy, it’s more a matter of character and integrity … I think his comments time and again appeal to the racist tendency that exists in some people and I think that’s very dangerous.
6. The Atlantic listed Romney as one of the remaining “nays” among the NeverTrump crowd as of Nov. 6, two days before Trump won his landslide victory. In June, Romney told Blitzer that he would write in the name or a Republican other than Trump in the general election and confirmed he would not vote for Clinton.
7. Romney explained his strong convictions against Trump, despite the chance that Hillary Clinton would be elected president, in a May interview with the Wall Street Journal.
I wanted my grandkids to see that I simply couldn’t ignore what Mr. Trump was saying and doing, which revealed a character and temperament unfit for the leader of the free world … others, including myself, believe our first priority should be to stand by our principles and if those are in conflict with the nominee, the principles come first … When the grandkids ask “What did you do to stop Donald Trump?’” what are you going to say?
8. In a March 18 Facebook post, Romney wrote, “Trumpism has become associated with racism, misogyny, bigotry, xenophobia, vulgarity and, most recently, threats and violence. I am repulsed by each and every one of these.”
9. Romney became the “de-facto leader of the movement to deprive Trump of the Republican nomination—branded online as #NeverTrump,” following the March 18 Facebook post, according to the New Yorker.
10. Romney told Fox Business host Neil Cavuto following the March anti-Trump speech, “I’ll either vote for a conservative who runs or I’ll write in the name of a conservative… I cannot in good conscience vote for a person who has been as degrading, disruptive and unhinged as I’ve seen Donald Trump be.”
11. Romney did not attend the July 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, where Trump officially became the Republican Party’s nominee for President of the United States. Bob Dole was the only former Republican Party presidential nominee to attend the 2016 convention.
12. Rick Wilson, spokesman for independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin, told the Washington Examiner in October that the McMullin campaign used an email list purchased from Romney to fundraise for their candidate. McMullin pitched himself as a Trump alternative. The bottom of the fundraising email read, “Romney for President Inc.” according to the Examiner. Former 2016 candidate Jeb Bush’s superPAC Right to Rise had also previously purchased the list, but prior to the former Florida governor’s 2016 bid for the Republican presidential nomination was announced. A former Romney spokesman is on record as saying the list is available for rent to anyone.
13. Romney wrote a litany of anti-Trump Twitter posts:
This tweet from Romney on March 8 links to a video that is now private:
Romney tweeted on the day of his infamous anti-Trump speech in Utah where he called Trump a “phony” and “fraud” and called his promises “worthless” with a reference to Trump University. He called Trump supporters “suckers” and said Americans were giving him a “free ride to the White House.”
The failed 2008 presidential candidate and 2012 Republican presidential nominee also falsely claimed on March 3 that Trump as the Republican nominee would “enable” Hillary Clinton’s victory in the presidential race.
Back in February, Romney accused Trump of “coddling … bigotry.”
Romney retweeted a David Brooks post from March 18 which read, “No, Not Trump, Not Ever,” with a link to Brooks’ article for the New York Times.
Romney repeatedly joined with calls from the mainstream media and Democrats for Trump to release his tax returns as Democrats did to Romney in 2012. “They were all over me for my taxes,” said Romney according to Fox13 News Salt Lake City.
An October 26 tweet urged people to vote for down ticket races, but left out the office of President:
Trump presidential campaign spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway wrote in a November 24 Twitter post, “Receiving deluge of social media & private comms re: Romney Some Trump loyalists warn against Romney as sec of state.”
Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.