Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will make a major speech on Thursday in which he will slam GOP front-runner Donald Trump as “a phony” and “a fraud” who is “playing the American public for suckers.”
Romney will argue that "a Trump nomination enables" Hillary Clinton to win in November, reported Politico.
"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," the 2012 GOP nominee plans to say at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, according to a transcript of the speech.
"His domestic policies would lead to recession," Romney will say about Trump. "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."
Trump preemptively responded on Twitter Wednesday by saying: “Looks like two-time failed candidate Mitt Romney is going to be telling Republicans how to get elected. Not a good messenger!”
Romney has been on the warpath against Trump for one week, even going so far as to suggest – without proof – that a "bombshell" may lurk in the billionaire's taxes.
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"I think we have good reason to believe that there’s a bombshell in Donald Trump’s taxes," Romney told Fox News' Neil Cavuto Feb. 24, WND reported. “Either he is not anywhere near as wealthy as he says he is, or he hasn’t been paying the kind of taxes we would expect him to pay, or perhaps he hasn’t been giving money to the vets or the disabled like he has been telling us he’s been doing."
Trump released 92-pages of financial disclosure records last July, which included $1.4 billion in assets and $265 million in liabilities. All candidates are required to release such reports dating back through one calendar year.
Radio host Rush Limbaugh said it "boggles the mind" to think elites in Washington, D.C., would use Romney in an attempt to derail Trump's campaign.
"One of the three-prong strategies [for the GOP establishment is] to wait it out and hope that Trump doesn't get to 1,237 [delegates needed to clinch the nomination]. There's another part of that strategy. If it looks like that might happen, Romney [would] enter the race at the end, like before the California primary, and go in there and actually having contested as a candidate. And then the party unites and coalesces around Romney," Limbaugh said. "I kid you not. This is an establishment dream. There are some in the Republican Party to whom that is the solution."
"It boggles the mind. They're gonna send Romney out there to ring the warning bell," Limbaugh added. "But of all people to send out this warning? To describe what they're doing, you can't avoid sounding mean, unbelieving. It's really hard. Why don't they send [Arizona Sen. John] McCain out? Why don't they send [Bob] Dole out?"
See video below of Romney praising Trump after the real-estate mogul endorsed him for president in 2012:
Romney and his political allies have made no secret of their disdain for Trump. Stuart Stevens, who advised Romney during his failed 2012 presidential campaign, said Tuesday night that Democrat front-runner Hillary Clinton is better suited to be commander in chief.
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"Personally, I think Hillary Clinton would be a better president than Donald Trump because I think that Donald Trump is a dangerous person and is someone who would embarrass America," Stevens said on Bloomberg's "With All Due Respect," the HuffPost Politics reported. "I have no desire to see Hillary Clinton as president of the United States," he added. "I will not give her my vote, but I can't support Donald Trump."
Another Romney ally to go on the offense against Trump includes his 2012 running mate, House Speaker Paul Ryan.
"If a person wants to be the nominee of the Republican Party, there must be no evasion and no games," Ryan said Tuesday from the nation's capital. "They must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry."
Ryan's comments were made in reference to an interview between CNN's Jake Tapper and Trump last Sunday. Trump did not forcefully condemn former KKK leader David Duke, which he later blamed on a faulty earpiece.
"I was sitting in a house in Florida with a bad earpiece," Trump told NBC’s “Today” show on Monday. “I could hardly hear what he was saying. I heard various groups. I don’t mind disavowing anyone. I disavowed Duke the day before at a major conference."
Attacks aside, Trump is flying high after Super Tuesday wins in Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Massachusetts and Vermont.
"When you see the numbers that we got in South Carolina, we got Democrat voters to switch to vote for us. We doubled the voters from four years ago. I’m a unifier," Trump said Tuesday night, WND reported. "Once we get this finished, I’m going to go after Hillary if she’s allowed to run. Rubio and Cruz would probably have a very hard time. We have expanded the Republican Party."
One man who has not united behind Trump, however, is Jeb Bush's former communications director, Tim Miller. He announced plans to join Our Principles PAC, an anti-Trump group, on Tuesday.
"Donald's general election campaign will fail worse than Trump Mortgage and Trump Steaks did and Hillary Clinton will destroy him even if she's campaigning from jail," Miller told CBS News in a statement. "Our Principles PAC will fight until the last delegate is counted to stop that from happening, I'm happy to be a part of it."
Former Romney campaign strategist Katie Packer told CNN on Wednesday that she doesn't believe Romney will enter the presidential race, but will instead make it clear that he wants to be the "adult in the room," the Hill reported.
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