What do you think of people like Mitt Romney being so negative about Trump?

I have to agree with you on this one. Trump openly supported Romney during his bid for president but now Romney seems to be irrationally opposed to Trump. Romney is even talking about soliciting candidates to make a third party run for president. A move that is doomed to failure. I can’t see anything that would benefit the party by his irrational behavior and frankly he is losing influence by the day. Maybe that’s the real problem. The more he screams the less people listen. So he screams louder. It all seems very childish but he’s lost so much influence at this point that I doubt he’ll sway many people. A good man gone bad. Rather pathetic.

It seems so out of character for him to be so nasty. He wasn’t even that forceful to defend himself when was a candidate. That whole thing has me confounded.

It’s all about tradition and towing the Good Ol Boy line. Romney, Mc Cane, Cruz, Rubio are all in the GOP club where you patiently wait your turn to have the chance to grab the brass ring. Out of the blue is a renegade Trump who turned the establishment GOP upside down and none are too happy about it. Trump crashed their party and they thought they had it in the bag and have no real clue how to deal with it. Every day they put Romney in front of the cameras only prolongs the painful display of discourse within the GOP party.

They have a golden opportunity to come to terms with the Trump reality and present a new face…a united GOP with new aggressive even progressive policies to Make America Great Again. It would be a land slide election if they do.

That he’s got half a brain after all.

Sometimes, I wonder if you can be serious, @JLeslie. Of course Donald Trump would be dangerous for America as president. More Republicans should be speaking out about this, not fewer.

The official OED definition of Cunt…Mitt Romney

I agree with @kritiper

Dropped to his knees probably didn’t help. If I was Mitt I would be pissed too.

Completely agree with @dappled_leaves . Trump is a threat to the entire world, if only because no one actually knows how he feels about anything. Giving someone like that that much power is completely horrifying. I think most of the candidates are horrifying, but they don’t actively spew hatred quite the same way Trump does. Everyone should be speaking out about Trump, not just Romney.

There is nothing irrational in the distress underlying the prospect of a tasteless joke as leader of your party and the catastophic consequences awaiting the elevation of Trump to the Presidency. Anyone with a nickle’s worth of perspective and any semblance of integrity is FORCED to speak up. Trump is one of those absurdities so appalling that NO ONE can escape taking a position. Make no mistake. Your position on Trump is one of those concrete tests that come around in life on the soundness of your judgement and qualifications as a rational individual. This is why the man has such potential involving the destruction of the Republican party. His record and utterances render him beyond absorbing any shellac applied the usual defective politician. Trump is just beyond the pale, and anyone endorsing him is making a statement about their own soundness of judgement!

Trump called him a failed candidate. So I guessed that he is counter punching. MITT just ruined his chances to be Vp.

The Republican party is, like everyone else (the media, the Left, Beltway insiders) freaking out because Trump has the monetary power to operate as President without being subject to the manipulation that is inevitable for any leader that has been bought.

For better or for worse a Trump presidency would at least be very different.

It’s understandable that this would make many, even those that claim to be progressives quite nervous.

I don’t think of Mitt as being a conservative like Rubio or Cruz. I think he’s more pragmatic. He isn’t caught up in the fire and brimstone of religion, even though I believe him to be a religious man. He also is a religious minority, which I think helps him be more rational about the separation if church and state. When Mitt, a businessman himself, is freaking out about a candidate it does mean something different to me than one of the far right wingers.

I still find it shocking though. I understand why liberals are horrified by Trump, but we are not talking about a Democrat, we are talking about a Republican, who was happy to get support from Trump when he was running. If Trump is evil then maybe Mitt should have said he doesn’t want his support if he had integrity.

Politics is too much of a game, a farce. I just find Mitt being so outspoken about Trump to be a little over the top considering everything.

^^What I find interesting is your constant stream of Trump related questions and seeming continual defense of him. He has nothing but negative crap to say about pretty much everybody, and I can’t imagine why you would feel like he needs any defense or outrage on his behalf when people oppose him in any form.

To be fair to Mitt, it’s not like he was slandering him. It was all pretty accurate.

I think Mitt is genuinely, personally offended by Trump. Mitt, too, is really really rich and he’s exercising his right to express his disgust with Trump the Presidential candidate.

It’s shocking when Mitt works against Trump, but when Trump was viciously attacking Rosie O’Donald and pursuing the Birther movement into Obama’s second term, he was just being the wild and crazy “The Donald”.
By all rights, Romney should be running around calling Trump “Orangutan Head” and passing out Donald’s Used Gloves balloons. You know, mean spirited, asinine personal attacks.

Instead, Mitt Romney is making a reasoned attack on something he intensely believes is wrong, and having almost no effect.

^^The Birther thing was crazy talk. I was surprised he jumped on that bandwagon. Well, now that I see more of him I’m not so surprised.

As far as Rosie, she started it. I remember the day. I found a clip It’s in the first minute or so, you don’t have to watch the whole thing.

“As far as Rosie, she started it.”

I’m sorry, but I had to giggle. This sounds like something Trump would say.

^^I only mean she is not totally innocent either. He certainly could have risen above it all and not responded. Rosie was condescending to the women who compete in the Miss America contest, made fun of the winner, then made fun of Trump. The Trump thing I did find funny I admit, but the other mean girl shit bothered me.

Both of them are at fault. I agree. I had to giggle though. :)

I think Romney wanted to run but he didn’t have the support of the Republican Party because they wanted Bush. He decided Rubio was his man but we know how that turned out and he probably thought he could help his guy win if he helped in some way to get Drumpf out of the way. Notice he kind of bowed out a little when Rubio lost because his only choice after that was Cruz. Plenty of people in the Washington Republican party hate Cruz but I think Romney has enough respect for the station of the Presidency to never want anyone like Drumpf. Romney is a true die hard Republican conservative and I think Drumpf set the tone against him in the party when he attacked McCain on being a POW, so therefore a loser.
He’s also probably hoping to run in 2020 and is worried that Trump will destroy the party before he gets a chance to run again.

Drumpf set every conservative republicans hair on fire. They are suppose to be the party for Veterans. Republican rules mantra 101, We love veterans, we oppose abortion (aka, the murder of babies), we don’t raise taxes on our rich friends, we say we are against immigrants, but we slow the wheels immigration reform to blame on the Democrats, and we tell the old we will care for them but keep vague about how we intend to do it because we just need them to live long enough to vote. Honestly, on the last one, I think it can apply to both, the Republicans and the Democrats. Old people are hated. But neither side will say it.

@JLeslie

You seem SO surprised that Mitt would be so negative toward Trump.

Did you listen to the link posted by @johnpowell?

Are you aware that when Trump said that when Mitt was seeking his (Trump) support in his run that the implication of “dropped to his knees” was not an allusion to Mitt on his knees praying?

Are you really not aware that to a religious guy like Romney , the insinuation that he was willing to suck Trump’s dick in desperation to get his support is so over the top and unnecessarily pornagraphic that he is pissed of at Trump beyond words?

The guy is a Mormon and a businessman after all and used to a certain amount if decorum. This type of personal attack just doesn’t fly even between two really rich guys.

You think Mitt’s going after Trump is over the top? I think he was pretty damn constrained considering how personally disgusted he is by Trump’s comments attacking him.

It’s the same reason why the entire Bush family is refusing to endorse the presumptive nominee of their party.

Trump went after Jeb like a vicious pit bull. There was nothing about the issues. It was all personal and vicious on Trump’s part.

Whatever pushback he’s getting from Mitt, the Bushes and everybody else, he has certainly earned every single bit of it.

There were a lit of ways that he could have spoken about how desperate Mitt was for his support in the past without using the metaphor he did. So if Mitt stays pissed off at him until the grave, it’s his own damn fault.

He often speaks about how he knows how to “read” people but he’s dumb as a post if he thinks that talking like that to a Mormon (who isn’t even currently a rival in the race) is just going to be forgotten.

I was initially a bit surprised by Paul Ryan’s refusal to endorse him since he had been above the fray and not been attacked personally by Trump.

But all the other candidates and anyone else whom he has personally attacked, I’m not the least bit surprised by. Trump has earned all of it with his slash and burn tactics.

@Buttonstc :: I took it as on his knees willing to suck his dick for the endorsement.

@SecondHandStoke :: You do realize that the whole pay my own way thing was for the primaries. He is not self-financing through the general. Sheldon Adelson is already giving him 100 million. Your populist hero is already on his knees and he isn’t praying.

@johnpowell

Yeah, I know and it’s pretty obvious that Mitt (and pretty much the rest of the party and the country ) took it that way also.

It really leaves little room to think anything else.

@Buttonstc Actually, no, on his knees did not make me think blow job, it made me think begging. That’s how I use the saying, but I can see it can be interpreted another way now that you point it out.

I’m not saying Romney should be happy with Trump. I’m not saying he should support Trump. I think people, including politicians, should vote and be honest about how they think and feel. They should vote their conscience. They should not go with the party, for the sake of the party, nor let the party have so much control. I’m not angry at Romney, I was just surprised. I think of most politicians falling in line. That’s what Ryan will do. He saved face by saying he’s not sure. Now, some of his advisors have told him it won’t ruin his career to say he is ok with Trump (that’s my assumption anyway) and that republicans will hate if Ryan is associated with a Hillary win.

I don’t see Mitt as a hard core conservative like @Pandora indicated. He was pro-choice back in the day. In MA he implemented a universal-like healthcare system. He is a religious minority, so my assumption is he understands that if we allow religion into our government (more than it already is) it won’t be his religion. If the fed or the state gets the power of prayer and bible in school, it won’t be his bible, except in Utah maybe.

He grew up in MI and lives in MA. His kids in public school would be reading some other Christian brand, and in the right states, possibly being told they are in a cult. I think being Mormon makes him more like a Jew or Muslim in some practical ways regarding government and law than a Christian. Like I said, he is a religious minority. I see him as pragmatic and smart, and I think he understand the country is diverse and the Mormons aren’t going to turn the US into a theocratic Mormonland. Some if these other Christian candidates I can’t say the same.

I was very interested in Mitt when he ran for president, because it seemed like he might be moderate on social issues while so much of the republican party was wanting to deny equal rights to gay people in more than one way, and inch by inch taking away a women’s rights regarding abortion, and having a holy freak out about socialized medicine. In the end he pivoted for the national election sand became one of “them” lock stock and barrel. McCain too. The maverick faded and he seemed to fall in line.

Mitt either was lying in MA, or lying during his presidential race, or evolved over time. It’s up to the public to decide about him regarding those things, and Hillary, and Trump for that matter.

@JLeslie. Try to understand that it is impossible for an educated individual of sound reasoning to endorse Donald Trump for the Presidency without being regarded by his peers as either patently dishonest (like the sniveling toady -Newt Gingrich) or a straight up fool. Politicians are notorious for lies, exaggerations and hyperbole. But Trump is just so over the top that there is no wiggle room. This is why Ryan is in hell, and why every conservative with any speck of intellectual integrity finds him or herself flushed into the open and denied the Confucian option of remaining silent. For an endorsement of Trump amounts to the back end of that proverb. Trump forces the disintegration of the Republican party precisely because to endorse him is “to speak and remove all doubt”.

The word “hypocrite” comes to mind.

@stanleybmanly I’m just fine with republicans not endorsing Trump. Like I said, the shouldn’t if they don’t believe he is good for our country.

I saw Ben Carson say, back when there were still 5 candidates, he is supporting Trump, but thinks Kasich is the best one left. A day later I saw Lindsey Graham say, Kasich is the best, but he is endorsing Cruz. My mind just sound over statements like that. Maybe, just maybe, if early on the prominent politicians getting media time supported and endorsed who they really thought was best, that might help redirect things.

I’m not saying Mitt should support Trump, I’m saying he is going out of his way to squash him like a bug.

As far as Ryan, who knows what the hell he really thinks. I think he is just worried about how he will be perceived by voters and peers.

Ryan and every Republican is trapped. Because there’s no spinning Trump or his message. There’s no tidying up “Mexico is sending us rapists and murderers”. These aren’t gaffes! The unheard of parade of insults trail behind Trump like flies behind a garbage truck. Ryan is being forced to acknowledge a man who has declared to the world that he is about denying Muslims entrance to the United States. There is no way to install that man at the head of the Republican party and then deny that the Republican party is about Muslim bashing, Latino bashing, woman bashing-the works! But hey – the voters have spoken!

@stanleybmanly The problem for me with, “Mexico is sending us rapists and murderers,” is not that I think Trump thinks all Mexicans are criminals. I don’t believe he thinks that for one second. Sorry, I know people who hate Americans probably want to believe he thinks that, and people who are appalled by a hint of “racism” want to believe that, but I don’t.

Like I told my Mexican MIL, when she says, “gringos blah blah blah,” she knows not all gringos are alike. She didn’t say, “all,” she just made a general statement. For me, the problem is that Trump said what he said, and a president needs to be more careful with his words. He can’t go pissing off groups of people and nations, because he doesn’t think before he speaks. People won’t ask questions to clarify or wait to listen to explanations after the fact.

When jellies say, “Christians blah blah blah,” do they mean ALL Christians? When we say “the Republicans blah blah blah,” do we mean all registered republicans? I always assume not.

^^In this age of information, ignorance is a choice. You have clearly chosen. Whether he thinks what he says is true or not does not excuse him from saying it in the first place. The fact that he says things to appeal to the racist, homophobice, xenophobic, far right, gun rights, undereducated populace indicates an agenda. Your willingness to forgive based on “he doesn’t mean it” is absurd and insupportable. It will not save you, just as peoples refusal to take Hitler seriously did not save them.

@Jak Who is forgiving him? He doesn’t get my vote, mostly because of his crazy talk. There are other reasons too.

JLeslie I don’t think Trump believes all Mexicans are rapists or murderers, or that he can legally refuse Muslims entry to the U S, or that he can erect a wall that Mexico will finance. But I do believe that he SAYS these things, and God only knows what he can say in a 4 year term. Trump has like all politicians made “promises” that are impossible to keep. Only they are the extreme opposite of the “chicken in every pot” variety. He actually promises us that upon election he will be a xenophobe, a racist and a fascist, and fools stumble over themselves in praise of him. The argument that “he’s not as bad as he appears” gets you nowhere, because you simply have turn on your tv to catch him rudely assaulting some other ethnicity, nationality, or voting demographic. The instant you think “he’s not as bad as he sounds”, there he is blustering “oh yes I am, and here let me prove it”. While we’ve had Presidents in the past renowned for their showmanship, Trump is very much a different sort of bug.

But here’s why I think he’ll never make it in a fight against Clinton. While Hillary’s past has been picked clean snd villified, Trump’s closet of skeletons (and you know the collection has to be both exotic and extensive) has yet to be on exhibit. When the Democrats harness their huge pile of money toward the display of those bones, we are in for the show of the decade. Already the pressure mounts on the necessity of flashing his tax returns, and the calls will only grow more strident. Exciting days loom in our future.

@stanleybmanly What I hate is the venom. The black and white. Bill Clinton was not a terrible president because he got a blow job from Monica. George Bush is not stupid, because he danced on camera in another nation. I just don’t like when people aren’t balanced, when they forgive the behavior of one president or candidate, and for the same or similar they don’t do it for another. Obama sometimes stutters when he answers questions, but Bush mispronounces some words and the left thinks he’s just awful, and somehow Obama is fabulous in his verbal skills?? George Bush is racist because he didn’t help after Katrina? No, what happened was he had bad judgment. He should have broken the law, even he says that now. Two of Bush’s top people were black, Rice and Powell. He was also more liberal about immigration than his party in general. That’s the type of thing that drives me crazy.

I see this has turned into an echo chamber of hate Trump enthusiasts. I’m going to go out on a limb here and defend some of Trumps more provocative statements. When Trump says he’ll shut down Muslim immigration, it’s not all muslims. All that needs to happen is to shut down immigration from Muslim countries where we can’t vet the immigrants. Places like Syria, Lybya, Pakistan, etc. It’s neither difficult nor illegal to do so and until we know who is coming, it makes some sense. The immigration across our southern border is likewise an issue. Over the past 8 years the our economy has been in the toilet. Consequently the flow of hard working Hispanics has diminished and the flow of drugs and gangs has increased. When 90% of the women coming across the border have been raped, there is obviously a criminal element that is in play. The democratic talking points that all illegal immigrants are hardworking, honest citizens, just doesn’t stand up to the reality. As for the comments about women, it’s quite a stretch to portray his comments about Rosie as an comment about all women. It certainly doesn’t work that way for men. When you all call Trump names, does that translate to all men. For some maybe it does but most don’t read it that way. Think about the comments directed at Sara Palin. Did you read them as comments about all women?

The truth is many Americans are sick and tired of the liberal view of everything becoming the only narative possible. We’ll find out in Nov. if there are enough to throw the bums out.

Mitt Romney’s political tradition

@ibstubro – When I heard about the third party run, I was of the same opinion as your article. It sounds like a suicide mission with no chance of success. However, I heard a theory that is so insidious that it may actually have chance. It’s not an attempt to stop Trump but rather an attempt to stop both Trump and Hillary. If they can bleed off just a couple of states, they may be able to get enough electorial votes to keep both Trump and Hillary from reaching 270 (the magic number). If neither can get to 270, the election goes to congress and they elect the next president. The last time that happened was 1825 (I believe).

This still seems unlikely but remember that both Hillary and Trump have the highest negatives of presidential candidate ever. That makes a simple middle-of-the-road candidate seem appealing to both sides. With all the screaming about the primaries being rigged, we may be looking at the general election being rigged. Quite a turn of events.

Like Congress could do a better job.
They couldn’t even hold hearings on a supreme court justice.

Doesn’t matter if they could do a better job. If a third party could win even a single state like Ohio, that may be enough to deny both Trump and Hillary the majority they need. Once it goes to congress they can elect whoever they like. Maybe Alfred E. Newman, “What me worry!”. Well may not, Obama can’t serve a third term.

Desperate times-desperate righing