Trump hits back at ‘disaster candidate’ Mitt Romney
Former presidential nominee claims billionaire frontrunner unfit for the job; Trump: ‘He was begging me’ to endorse him in 2012
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleRaoul Wootliff is a former Times of Israel political correspondent and Daily Briefing podcast producer.
Donald Trump hit back Thursday at criticism leveled against him by former Republican nominee Mitt Romney hours earlier, saying Romney had “begged” Trump to endorse him when he was running for president in 2012.
Trump claimed he could have said, “‘Mitt, drop to your knees.’ He would have dropped to his knees.”
Speaking at a campaign rally in Portland, Maine ahead of Saturday’s Republican caucus there, Trump repeatedly said of Romney, “He was begging me.”
The barbs came in response to a speech delivered by Romney earlier Thursday, in which the former Massachusetts governor warned Republicans that Trump was a “phony,” a misogynist and dangerous.
.@realDonaldTrump says @MittRomney was begging him for an endorsement in 2012 pic.twitter.com/vfpPoJ2KLG
— POLITICO (@politico) March 3, 2016
In a nationally broadcast speech at the University of Utah, Romney said that the prospects for a safe future will be “greatly diminished” if Trump is to become the Republican nominee for president. He warned the packed auditorium that any of the other GOP candidates would be a better alternative to the billionaire businessman.
“The only serious policy proposals that deal with the broad range of national challenges we confront today, come from Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich,” Romney said of Trump’s GOP rivals. “One of these men should be our nominee.”
In his response, Trump said that Romney proved he was a “choke artist” and a “disaster candidate” when he lost the 2012 presidential race to Barack Obama, and that Romney had declined to run a third time this year because he was afraid of Trump.
In a low blow, Trump added that he’s made considerably more money than Romney in his string of “Trump”-branded businesses.
“I have a store worth more money than Mitt,” he said, likely referring to the the Gucci store on 5th Ave, the retail space of which is estimated as exceeding $300 million
In 2012, Romney’s net worth was estimated at $190–250 million.
On the offensive following his speech and utilizing his fist major media coverage since losing the presidential race to Obama, Romney tweeted that if Trump had used the language and tone he does today in 2012, he would not have sought his endorsement.
If Trump had said 4 years ago the things he says today about the KKK, Muslims, Mexicans, disabled, I would NOT have accepted his endorsement
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) March 3, 2016
The back-and-forth comes as Republican candidates prepared for the first post-Super Tuesday debate, scheduled for Thursday in Detroit, with Trump coming under increasing pressure from his party as he fights for the majority of delegates needed to win the nomination.
Four years ago, the two men stood side by side in Las Vegas, with Trump saying it was a “real honor and privilege” to endorse Romney’s White House bid. 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.”
AP contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.