Romney jumped back into the political fray and stood solidly on the side of the establishment as he tossed out some muted disdain and insults to the Tea Party rebellion.
From the Washington Post:
“I would have never predicted that the leader of my party at this stage would be Donald Trump and the leader in their party right now would be a socialist,” Romney said, referring to Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont.
Romney had sharp words for Trump, a billionaire businessman and reality television star who endorsed Romney in 2012 and donated to his campaign. Explaining the Trump phenomenon, Romney said, “Frankly, when you light your hair on fire, you make the evening news, and some people have a lot of hair lit on fire.”
Get it? Because el Trumpo’s hair is yellowish? Oh Mitt, you slay me!
He then talked about some of the rhetoric around immigration:
“The attention that Mr. Trump has brought to the process is welcome,” Romney said. “We like the fact that people are watching the debates. That’s the positive side. The negative side is that he’s said some things that he described the other day as being ‘childish’. . .I’m afraid he brought attention to [immigration] in a way that was not productive and not appropriate in saying the things he did about Mexican-American immigrants.”
Romney said he is concerned that several candidates — he did not name names — have made statements “that some minority populations look at and say, ‘Wow, I guess they don’t like me very much.’” He said Republicans must communicate with heart and say, “We like legal immigration and we like helping people.”
Which is kinda odd, because he got it just as bad for daring to advocate for “self-deportation” during the 2012 election.
But this one’s where he goes way off the rails:
Romney said he sees the Republican contest breaking into two brackets: “the more insurgent, outspoken, tea party perhaps bracket” and “the more mainstream conservative bracket.” In the former, he placed Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. In the latter, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, retired technology executive Carly Fiorina and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
Romney was definitive in predicting the front-runner’s fate: “Donald Trump will not be the nominee. Ultimately our nominee will come from the mainstream conservative bracket. I don’t know who that will be.”
Romney absolutely defies that Cruz or Trump could be the front-runner, and then he calls them skunks!
…Romney said he believed the American people would “do the right thing.”
“I know there’s some skunks in any endeavor — business, politics — and they get most of the visibility, but there are also some really good people,” Romney said.
Really? Skunks?
I don’t think they’re gonna appreciate that, but Ted Cruz will most likely ignore it, while the Donald has already pummeled Mitt as a total loser. Maybe they’ll just completely ignore his remarks.