Why is Mitt Romney coming after Trump?

Becaue the establishment Republicans – such as they are – are finally taking a Trump nomination seriously and it scares the shit out of them.

@janbb Is it very organized? The “establishment” asked Romney to come out swinging? Or, Romney did it on his own as part of the establishment, and because of his own personal fears?

I’m not an American, but when I saw Romney’s speech the other day, my immediate thought was the Republicans are running scared and they’ve sent Mitt out to try to dissuade people from voting for Trump.

Edit: “because”

@JLeslie I’‘m not sure but certainly some Republican columnists and Bobby Jindal are also attacking Trump. By pandering the the far right and being obstructionists, they have created this Tea Party monster.

Honestly, if you care, it’s not hard to inform yourself,

As with any political speech, much of it is subjective, and the individual viewer’s preconceptions color the perceived motive.

I don’t know if he did it more-or-less on his own or in tandem with the GOP ‘elite’, but it seemed a very reasoned and reasonable response to the crazy that is Trump. I think Romney was very sincere and that he made a good speech.

That said, I was amazed at how well he channeled Ronald Reagan, especially at the outset – almost like he was playing Reagan in a TV movie.
I don’t believe it was too little too late. I believe it was beside the point. Trump supporters obviously aren’t concerned with reason, so Romney was just preaching to the choir.

@ibstubro You can lay off with the sarcastic remarks. You have been in rare form the last few weeks. WTH? I know I can google, but I like talking to my Jelly friends like @janbb and @Earthbound_Misfits and others, and I like to get Jelly opinions, and not just read what journalists are writing. Why did you even bother to write an answer if you prefer I read about it on my own?

@janbb Is Trump a Tea Party monster? I didn’t realize the Tea Party is supporting Trump. The leaders of the Tea Party are putting their support behind him? Or, it just appears Tea Part people are supporting him? Are you saying Trump is pandering to the far right? Or, you mean the Republican Party has been pandering to the far right?

Yes – Trump is a Tea Party monster in that he appeals to the the most scared of change, unreasoning and xenophobic elements in the country.

Sexual tension, no doubt.

I agree with janbb in the first post of the thread. The Republicans would like to insert a little sanity into the campaign. I think they are in shock. If the Party is split in two, with the Conservatives center right and the Rednecks on a dimensional plane of their own, the Democrats—if they themselves can remain united—could win the next few presidential elections. This is what scares the Party, I think. There is an uncontrollable madman usurper at the helm backed by popular demand and the Party leaders are impotent to stop him. This has to be the most interesting presidential election in American history. I can’t think of anything weirder in the past. I just hope it doesn’t end in tragedy for the nation. But I, um, have faith that our checks and balances will compensate for our poor selection process.

We and the World have survived Grant (great general, notoriously alcoholic political dumbass), Harding (dumbass, empty-headed prettyboy), Buchanan (politically astute devious sonuvabitch), Hoover (Corporate Whore) and Bush II (Corporate Whore, dumbass with no character to boot). In that respect, the system has worked pretty good and kept the exceptionally looser cannons and numbskulls in check when they go too far.

We can get through a Trump presidency, if necessary. Well, you guys can. I’ll be down here in the islands, behind you all the way.

I googled a little after reading @janbb‘s comments, and this article caught my eye about Trump and the Tea Party. I’m not so sure I agree with the article.

Funny, when the Tea Party started I was very interested in what their concerns were, because I was disgusted by our high national debt. Then as the Tea Party quickly morphed and was attracting right wing extremist I couldn’t identify with them.

@Espiritus_Corvus I think the party will stay together longer and better than people think, solely because I think what they have in common is not being democrats and disliking democrats. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

@JLeslie Maybe you’re right, but I think the Republican Leadership is behaving like they aren’t as sure about this as you are.

@Espiritus_Corvus Sure, they need to limit the risk I guess. I could easily be naive, or downright wrong about it.

It seems to me there has to be money being thrown around. The money that usually controls the Republicans must be freaking out. People behind the scenes I guess. They can’t control Trump, he calls them out.

Romney’s vitriol only serves to strengthen Trump’s position, he represents the very thing voters are rebelling against, the tired old establishment & he’s a loser too.

I wasn’t being sarcastic.
“I didn’t see or hear all that Romney has said.”
Yet you appear to be discussing the speech with “jelly friends” @janbb and @Earthbound_Misfit that have watched the speech.

To be honest, my experience was much like yours when I opened the question – news snippets of Romney attacking Trump. So I searched and found that Romney’s speech was free to view on the internet, so I spent 15 minutes watching it before I posted.

Before I watched I agreed with @Cruiser’s post on another thread that it was a ‘sad’ attempt. Watching it, Romney seemed pretty sincere. I disagree that it was “vitriol”, when put in context. It was specific Trump failings, something any candidate expects to face.

Again, “I don’t believe it was too little too late. I believe it was beside the point. Trump supporters obviously aren’t concerned with reason, so Romney was just preaching to the choir.”

For me, regarding the taxes, I felt the media, and people in general, were unfair to Romney and I think Romney coming out to press Trump about his taxes is ridiculous. The very thing he had trouble with he throws onto another candidate?

I think it’s important the candidates reveal their tax returns in a timely manner, but that’s not the point.

Right now Trump is saying he is waiting on the audit, so the government should get into gear and finish the audit.

There is no real way to know what he is thinking and why he is doing it. But he said in an interview that he didn’t want his grandchildren to ask him one day what did he do to try to stop Drumpf from being President. He sees him as a danger and I agree with that. Drumpf just had another rally where people where pushed out and hit by his supporters as he screamed get them out of here.
He has no respect for anyone’s views other than his own. He has no intention of honoring our the First Amendment and he wants to overthrow the 14 Amendment. http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2015/08/donald-trump-has-some-thoughts-about-the-constitution
He promotes chaos and violence. This is not something a President should do. Period. I believe he is a mentally ill person and I agree that he is a clear Danger to the United States.

As for the taxes, all candidates have turned over their taxes in the past and presently. But Trump keeps making excuses and changing his excuses. He says he’s being audited. So when asked to show the taxes that are not being audited he said those are also being audited. First he also said that his taxes are so complicated that no one would understand it and then the media told him they have tax accountants that can clarify it. Then he jumped to the auditing excuse. So Romney believes he must be hiding something. I agree. He probably doesn’t want people to see all the times he manipulated his taxes so that he pays very little. Or have other tax accountants recognize that he must be hiding money off shore, or it reveal all the money he is getting from businesses he has overseas.

@JLeslie “It seems to me there has to be money being thrown around.”

Oh, you librulls. You always think throwing money at problems will make them go away.~~

I still believe that Hillary and Trump have been working together. I have said for a long time that Trump would take votes from the republicans and Hillary will win. This is also why the Dems have been trying to ignore and shut out Bernie Sanders, because he would beat Trump.
I mean really, does no one find it odd that the GOP was flooded with nominees and the dems have 2.5?
Also keep in mind, that this may get extra interesting, because contrary to popular belief that there is a “liberal” media, the company that Mitt Romney founded, Bain Capital, owns iHeart Communications, which owns over 850 AM/FM radio stations in the country, as well as plenty of billboards.
I have to imagine the GOP knows that this will result in a Hillary victory….

Let me just say this: I know several hard-lined republicans who have openly said they will vote in a democrat over Trump.

What I find fascinating in Romney’s attack on Trump is that NO ONE disputes a word of what he said. Notice that the only retort from Trump and his fans on that mile long list of faults and failures is “Mitt’s a loser” or ” how shameful to pick on the leading candidate from your own party” Not ONE WORD on whether or not the damning list is accurate.

Of course Romney and all the other “haves” in our society fattening up under the present setup are out to torpedo the threat to upset the apple cart. The irony is that the non rich bubba base that has been the bread and butter backbone of Republican foolishness for better than 30 years is now running amok. All of these people whom Conservatives have whipped up, and whose frustations have been shamefully exploited by a party operating directly against the interests of anyone unmoneyed, have revolted in favor of the blowhard who simply carried typical Republican tactics to their logical conclusion. The stakes are terrifying and yet I find myself laughing my ass off, because as Romney’s little speech indicates, the world has been turned upside down. Who would have thought that the leadership of the Republican party would ever be reduced to APPEALING TO REASON? It boggles the mind! Too bad that the clowns have spent the last 40 years or so cultivating a fan base immune to not only reason, but basic common sense. There will be more such talk from party headquarters, on the visible mountain of flaws that is Donald Trump, but Republicans have profited for decades from the realization that ignorance will ALWAYS trump truth at the polls. No pun intended.

APPEALING TO REASON while refusing any hearings on any SCOTUS nominee the President presents by order of the Constitution
Bravo, @stanleybmanly.

I’m not sure why anyone thinks Romney’s speech was anything other than sincere. He was not trying to sway those die hard Trump supporters but rather add some common sense to the rest of the Republicans. Winning begets winning. The more Trump wins the more people move into his corner just to be on the winning side. Until Rubio started attacking Trump none of these latest things had been revealed. It may be too late to stop Trump but It’s worth a shot. I know that many people will always look for some hidden evil motive to anything any body says but Personally, I believe that Romney is simply trying to do what he thinks is best for the country and his party. Democrats hurling their typical bombs at him certainly hasn’t affected his popularity.

Just a side note, I thought Romney’s speech was very good. Of course I always liked him anyway.

@Jaxk What specific attacks by Rubio? Can you give me an example or two where you think Rubio made valid points about Trump.

The mistake I see Romney, the RNC and most everyone else here commenting make is the failure to admit why Trump AND Sanders are so popular. Yes Trump has issues and short comings and anyone supporting him accepts this….much in the same way we all have had to rationalize our prior support to less than perfect candidates.

As eloquent and sincere as he tried and succeeded in sounding in his speech to plea to the better sensibilities of the viewing public, his words fell on deaf ears all because he, the RNC and even the Dems refuse to look in the mirror and admit that they are the very reason Trump AND Sanders have so many followers. They have denied this from the day Trump came down the escalator and their continued denial and failed attempts at knock Trump off his Ivory Tower has only served to make him stronger in contrast to the last 12 years of F’d up leadership in Washington.

I am not a HUGE fan of Trump in the least but the mere mention of Bush, Obama, Clinton, Reid, Boehner, Pilosi, and yes Romney make me barf a little in my mouth. That said it is my hope that people so crazed for change of the establishment can snap out of it and come to reason we still need someone in charge who knows a little about how to steer the bus of Congress and get behind someone like Rubio.

Romney is a throwback to old line conservatism. As with the first Bush, these are men from a time when intellect counted for something in the Republican Party. Even when I railed against Romney during his campaign, it was about the difficulty of a man with his credentials appealing to his party’s base. In truth, I still believe that aside from ego, most people seeking the presidency believe they have the good of the country at heart. The trouble is in the acceptance of the dictum that the country and all of us living in it are better off as long as the rich get richer. It is easy to understand how anyone with the best of intentions can be biased toward the belief that “what’s best for my portfolio is also best for the country”. None of us should EVER forget that in more ways than one, the Presidency TODAY is an enormously enriching experience.

@JLeslie – Trump University and Importing workers for his hotel in Florida. He also hired illegal immigrants for his construction projects. I hadn’t heard those previously

@Jaxk Trump University was new to me too. The immigrant thing I thought was something from 30 years ago? I don’t think any Trump supporters will care about something so long ago.

@JLeslie You should care even if its 30 years ago that a man currently dogging immigrants tossed his “principles” aside to enhance his bottom line. The point is as the reaction to Romney’s little talk surely indicates, nothing said about him is going to dissuade his fans. I mean if the sight of a man openly bragging in a national debate about the size of his equipment doesn’t give you pause, what point is there in bringing up his other failings?

The “Republican Leadership” is a group of plutocrats who want the rank and file to do what they are told. But Trump has tapped into a group of people who feel their birthright entitlement (white, male) is slipping away, and the rank and file is no longer behaving the way the leadership wants.

The Republican Party of the last 35 years has been built on business leaders and their pals telling people what to do, and telling them that the “other” will no longer be in power if they vote Republican. But it hasn’t worked out well for those who have obediently followed the dictates of the GOP, and now the rank and file is in rebellion.

I think it’s the Twitter campaign, @Jaxk.
Romney and Rubio bring up Trump University and the next day the lead headline is GOP at war with itself.

Typically, we’re not discussing Romney’s speech, we’re discussing the soundbites that followed Romney’s speech.

“Look, his—his bankruptcies have crushed small businesses and the men and women who work for them. He inherited his business, he didn’t create it. And whatever happened to Trump Airlines? How about Trump University? And then there’s Trump Magazine and Trump Vodka and Trump Steaks and Trump Mortgage. A business genius he is not.”

“Trump Shuttle never turned a profit. The high debt load incurred in the company’s formation unnerved Trump’s creditors as his other high profile, highly leveraged interests failed. In September 1990 the loans were defaulted and ownership of the airline passed to its creditor banks, led by Citicorp.”

Trump’s Legal Affairs

@JLeslie – I believe the importing of waiters and dishwasher is current practice. Either way, you seem to be locked into what will steal his base support. That’s not what this is about. It’s about stopping any further erosion. I can’t say it’s working even though I think it is. we’ll see in the next few weeks if his numbers continue to rise or if they level off. If the Republicans can keep him down in the 30% range, he won’t get a majority. That at least would give them some options.

@ibstubro – All good points. They are attacking him on what he touts as his greatest strength. Successful business man. I still think though that it will be a hard sell. If you are worth $10 billion most of us would consider that success. Pointing to a few failures won’t change that.

Donald is a Democrat. Mitt Romney knows it, and he’s got a bee in his bonnet about so many Republicans being fooled.
The attacks are weak, and won’t result in much change, if any.

Yes, @Jaxk, but if someone could set just one of them on fire, the rest would catch in succession. As one burned low, another one would flame up. We’ve seen it happen. Look at Jack Ryan who dropped out over an unsealed he-said-she-said child custody battle and handed the seat to an unknown named Barak Obama.

The attacks are strong, @Here2_4 in that they directly relate to Donald Trump’s business acumen, or lack thereof. His self proclaimed claim to fame.
He’s saved his own millionaire ass time after time on the backs of the American taxpayers.
And he’s going to save us from that in the future? Because he has so much experience screwing the system, he’s the only one qualified to fix it??

@ibstubro. I think you have a point. It won’t be anything of substance that will derail Trump. It will require something prurient or uncommonly sleazy.

because the reps are desperate to get rid of drumpf, so they are starting to field the lowest dregs.

@ibstubro – You may be right but I don’t think so. Everyone has been waiting for that to happen for most of a year now. The political correct issues that have destroyed candidates in the past don’t work on Trump simply because his appeal is that he is not politically correct. He’s also very good at branding his opponents. Something that the Democrats have been very successful doing for a couple of decades. Bush was stupid, Palin was stupid, Romney was a vulture capitalist, and so on. So if Trump gets defamed it will have to be something real otherwise his fans just eat it up.

@Jaxk He is the closest I have ever seen to being a real “Teflon” candidate. Even his statement about wanting to hit on his daughter have not moved public opinion.

@stanleybmanly I’m not a Trump supporter. There are things I like about him, but overall he’s scary to me. I do care if he was employing illegal immigrants, especially if he was aware of it. I don’t see anything wrong if he “imported” immigrants legally. The immigrants wanted to come and work I would assume. As long as he wasn’t abusing them. Many businesses and industries import immigrants. We were bringing in nurses from more than one country, Kohler’s hotel and spa used to be the barracks where they housed the immigrants who worked in the factory, there are tons of examples. My husband had to quit his job when we were first dating, because his job decided they wouldn’t sign his papers, so he had to look for a company that would.

I find it interesting that Cruz is winning in Kansas and Maine (those are the only two results I’ve seen so far). And he’s winning with big margins. The results aren’t all in yet but Cruz is coming in around 50% in both and Trump is in the 20s. Maybe Romney’s speech had some affect.

“Why is Mitt Romney coming after Trump?”

Regular kegel exercises.