Denouncing 69-year-old real estate mogul and GOP front-runner Donald Trump as a huckster, 68-year-old-former 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney has a real credibility problem. Four years ago he begged for Trump’s endorsement, getting the Celebrity Apprentice star’s to back his campaign. Handing President Barack Obama a second term, Romney got shellacked in the general election, garnering little enthusiasm from Republicians. Four years later, Romney leads the GOP establishment charge against the man he once pleaded for support. Romney’s sour grapes stem from Trump’s brutal honesty about Romney running a poor campaign, eventually sealing his fate picking a young, inexperienced Tea Party zealot Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as VP, now GOP House Speaker. Back then, Ryan hit-the-ground-running attacking Medicare and Social Security, killing Mitt’s campaign.
By the time Romney muzzled Ryan, it was too late, the damage was done to Romney’s campaign handing Obama his second term. Four years earlier, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) made the same mistake picking Tea Party darling former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Her hyperbole on the campaign trail sabotaged McCain’s maverick credentials, handing the GOP another crushing defeat. Faced with Trump wrapping up the GOP nomination, Romney lashed out, more for himself than anyone else. “Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud,” said Romney, expressing the same hyperbole that discredits his message. Romney’s knows that Trump, not Mitt, is an icon of American entrepreneurial and media success. Trump’s brand stretches far-and-wide, leaving his mark at exclusive real estate properties in the most prestigious capital markets around on the globe.
Calling Trump a “phony” or “fraud” continues the line of attack of GOP establishment candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) who’s got almost nothing to show for his presidential campaign. Winning only one state in Minnesota, Rubio’s advisors told him to go on the attack, calling Trump a “con artist.” Telling voters their getting “suckered” by Trump is more insulting to voters than when Mitt said 47% of Obama’s supporters back him because they’re on government largess. Romney’s tirade today speaks volumes about his four years of frustration after getting crushed by Obama in 2012. Romney’s attack hits Trump with everything but the kitchen sink. Trump vodka, Trump Airlines, Trump University, Trump mortgage, etc, drawing public’s attention to Trump as a national and global brand. Romney’s attacks actually prove Trump’s argument about his success.
Romney criticized Trump for suggesting the U.S. improve relations with Russia. Former Florida governor and GOP candidate Jeb Bush said the U.S. can’t have a relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, tossing out 50 years of U.S. diplomacy, leading to détente, something Jeb’s brother, former President George W. Bush, worked on for eight years. “Donald Trump says he admires Vladimir Putin, at the same time he’s called George W. Bush a Liar,” Romney told an audience at the University of Utah, Hinckley Center of Politics. Trump said the U.S. shouldn’t continue the policy of President Barack Obama alienating Russia, the world’s biggest nuclear arsenal. When Trump talked of Bush-43 lying about weapons of mass destruction it was a bitter pill for the GOP to take. Bush-43 hit the GOP with a wrecking ball when he left office Jan. 20, 2009.
Romney’s attack against Trump was far-and-wide, proving he repeated carefully prepared GOP Party-establishment talking points. Trump’s campaign, whether admitted to or not by the GOP establishment, rejects Washington’s breakdown between Democrats and Republicans. When voters think of the GOP establishment, it’s precisely about failures in the House and Senate. Romney welcomed the chance to hit Trump because of hearing insults about his failed 2012 presidential campaign. Hurling insult-after-insult, Mitt and his former campaign manage Stuart Stevens reprieve the inexcusable loss to Obama in 2012. Trump’s been the most honest GOP candidate talking openly about past GOP failures, especially the Iraq War and broken U.S. economy under Bush-43. No Republican, including Mitt, wants to accept past mistakes or start with a clean slate to retake the White House in 2016.
Mitt’s sour grapes showed itself off, repeating the RNC carefully prepared opposition talking points on GOP front-runner Donald Trump. Instead of congratulating Trump for dramatically expanding voter turnout and energizing the GOP base, the GOP establishment defends its sinking turf. With Fox News hinting it will no longer back Rubio, the shift’s already in the works to Trump. Despite outrageous claims by Cruz and Rubio that they’re best suited to run against Democratic front-runner former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrats are far more worried about Trump. Energizing independents and crossover Democrats, Trump has the best chance of doing what Reagan did in 1980: Beating Democrats in a landslide. With the Florida and Ohio winner-take-all primaries looming on March 15, Romney made one last ditch attempt to derail the Trump freight train.
