Right message...agree with much of it. But wrong person to deliver it. Though some may listen, this will undoubtedly fuel the ire of the Trumpeteers. After all, this was the guy who likely caused many of today's Trump supporters to stay home in 2012 (and ironically they now demand we vote for Trump if he's the nominee?!).TRS: Mitt Romney gave a big speech today in Utah, eviscerating Donald Trump and explaining why he should not be the chosen nominee for the Republican Party.
Like Ronald Reagan, Romney said we are at another time for choosing with the prospects for our future looking great. But suggested that a Trump presidency would not bring that great future to a realization.
Romney said Trump is not the huge business success he claims to be and that he’s not a business genius. He hammered Trump on both domestic and foreign policy and said Trump’s imagination should not be married to real power.
He called Trump a phony and a fraud and said his promises are as phony as a degree from Trump University.
Where was this Romney in 2012 against Obama? And as many are pointing out, primarily to disqualify the message, he's certainly changed his tune (inarguably for the better). But he ought to know all about Trump's establishment ties, after all, Trump helped fund Romney!
"Let me put it very plainly: If we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished. ... Frankly, the only serious policy proposals that deal with a broad range of national challenges that we confront today come from Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich. One of these men should be our nominee."
"Watch by the way how he responds to my speech today. Will he talk about our policy differences, or will he attack me with every imaginable, low road insult? This may tell you what you need to know about his temperament, his stability, and his suitability to be president."
Such a message might be more effective if a Mike Lee or a Ben Sasse delivered it, or even a Limbaugh or Levin. Also, there was an endorsement opportunity missed here to encourage more unification of the party behind the strongest competitor (as hard as it is for the establishment to admit it, that'd be the conservative Cruz). Nonetheless, the substance is there, and the message still rings true. So what will the public make of it?
Here's the message/delivery hurdle to get around: We've had a serious problem with the establishment wing of the Republican Party for far too long now. We've repeatedly sought conservative means of rectifying those issues, continually being restricted and blocked from pursuing such ends through person and policy alike. And perhaps the argument can be made that now the pendulum has swung the other way towards the antithesis of what the Republican Party stands for, and now the establishment has lost so much credibility in fighting conservatism, that it can't restrain the other, less Republican, less conservative, less principled. But that mentality couldn't come at a more debilitating time than now, when we've finally ushered a constitutional conservative stalwart into the arena! (I'll say it again, that would be Ted Cruz!)Now, Romney (along with Graham and the Establishment) still don't completely comprehend what they've caused, but instead have perhaps begun to finally feel it. And as much as they don't want to admit it, it is far better for the party to go conservative and survive than to slide further into a hodged-podged abyss of wreckage and irrelevancy. As Mark Levin described the other day, Trump is leading a third party run from within the Republican Party. And where it leads, no one knows for certain, but that uncertainty is looking more dangerous by the day, and even a guy as cloudy as Romney can see it.
Related link: How Ted and Marco Can Save the GOP and the Country
