UPDATED: Mitt Romney Eviscerates Donald Trump

This story has been by ALISON BAUTER (Patch Staff)

SALT LAKE CITY, UT – Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney blasted his party's front-runner Thursday, condemning Donald Trump as a "con man and a fake," while declining to endorse any one candidate against him.

Two days after a Super Tuesday sweep positioned Trump as the likely GOP presidential nominee, Romney unleashed a scorched-earth speech eviscerating the billionaire businessman for everything from his personality to his "dangerous" foreign policy positions.

"Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud," Romney said. "He's playing the members of the American public for suckers. He gets a free ride to the White House, and all we get is a lousy hat."

He grabbed audience laughs and garnered wide media coverage as he condemned Trump for his temperament, instability, dishonesty, vulgar language and juvenile behavior.

"Watch, by the way, how he responds to my speech today," Romney said, to audience applause.

The former Massachusetts governor, who lost in 2012 to an incumbent Barack Obama, weighed a repeat run in 2016, but ultimately opted out. In the interim, outspoken Trump has surged to the front of the pack.

Characteristically, Trump took to Twitter before the much-publicized remarks, painting Romney as a "failed candidate" who had to all-caps "BEG" for a Trump endorsement in 2012.

Trump isn't Romney's only critic. Pundits point out that the former presidential candidate represents the Republican establishment Trump's "self-funded candidate" speeches and populist rhetoric have played so well against. Additionally, Romney released excerpts from his remarks prior to the speech, undercutting the surprise factor that has so successfully captivated headlines in Trump's hands.

In response to those who paint Trump as presumptive nominee, Romney noted the rules of political history may not apply, having been "pretty much shredded during this campaign." Breaking one of those rules himself, Romney praised all three of Trump's challengers. Instead of offering an individual endorsement, he suggested which candidate to vote for in each winner-take-all primary state for the greatest chance for victory against Trump.

"One of these men should be the nominee," he said.

Failing to unite around one of those candidates, he said, ensures a victory for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who most polls show beating Trump in a general election.

Romney also called on Trump to disprove those that call him a "phony" by releasing his tax data, as well as the transcript from an off-the-record conversation with theNew York Times' editorial board that allegedly conflicts with his public statements.

He made his remarks at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City hours before the Republican candidates gather for a Fox News debate in Detroit, the largest city Romney’s home state of Michigan.

Patch's Earlier Report

Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, plans to eviscerate Donald Trump, whose nomination seems more likely after a nearly unbroken string of early primary and Super Tuesday wins, in a major speech at 11:30 a.m. Thursday in Salt Lake City.

Romney has called the New York real estate tycoon a “phony” and a “fraud” whose nomination would assure Democrat Hillary Clinton will win the White house in November.

Trump responded in trademark bombastic style, calling Romney a “failed candidate” and questioning on Twitter why Romney sought his endorsement in 2012, among other barbs.

Romney will make his remarks at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City hours before the Republican candidates gather for a Fox News debate in Detroit, the largest city Romney’s home state of Michigan.

Michigan’s presidential primary is March 8.

In excerpts released by Romney’s office, he plans to say that Trump’s “promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He's playing the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House and all we get is a lousy hat."

He’s also expected to criticize Clinton, saying that "America's interests were diminished in every corner of the world" during her tenure as secretary of state and that she "jettisoned her most profound beliefs to gain presidential power.”

A Trump nomination "enables her victory" in the fall, Romney said.

The two-time Republican presidential candidate is expected to say that though he wanted Trump’s endorsement four years ago, he regrets that given Trump’s praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, his attacks on Republican President George W. Bush, and his harsh comments about women, Muslims and Mexican immigrants.

On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show, Trump said Romney is “just trying to stay relevant.” On NBC’s “Today,” he called Romney “a stiff.”

The speech is the latest in increasingly heated anti-Trump rhetoric by Romney, who last week told Fox News there’s a “bombshell” in the business mogul’s tax returns. He also criticized Trump for not disavowing support by former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke.

When he did, Romney called the response “disqualifying and disgusting.”

Here are the full excerpts released ahead of the speech:

In 1964, days before the presidential election, Ronald Reagan went on national television and challenged America that it was a "Time for Choosing." He saw two paths for America, one that embraced conservative principles dedicated to lifting people out of poverty and helping create opportunity for all, and the other, an oppressive government that would lead America down a darker, less free path. I'm no Ronald Reagan and this is a different moment but I believe with my heart and soul that we face another time for choosing, one that will have profound consequences for the Republican Party and more importantly, for the country. …

At home, poverty persists and wages are stagnant. The horrific massacres of Paris and San Bernardino, the aggressions of Putin, the growing assertiveness of China and the nuclear tests of North Korea confirm that we live in troubled and dangerous times. …

But if we make the right choices, America's future will be even better than our past and better than our present. …

Of the remaining candidates, the only serious policy proposals that deal with the broad range of national challenges we confront have come from Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich. …

Donald Trump says he admires Vladimir Putin, while has called George W Bush a liar. That is a twisted example of evil trumping good. …

The president of the United States has long been the leader of the free world. The president and yes the nominees of the country's great parties help define America to billions of people. All of them bear the responsibility of being an example for our children and grandchildren. …

Trump relishes any poll that reflects what he thinks of himself. But polls are also saying that he will lose to Hillary Clinton. …

On Hillary Clinton's watch at the State Department, America's interests were diminished in every corner of the world. She compromised our national secrets, dissembled to the families of the slain, and jettisoned her most profound beliefs to gain presidential power. …

A person so untrustworthy and dishonest as Hillary Clinton must not become president. But a Trump nomination enables her victory. …

I understand the anger Americans feel today. In the past, our presidents have channeled that anger, and forged it into resolve, into endurance and high purpose and into the will to defeat the enemies of freedom. Our anger was transformed into energy directed for good. …

Here's what I know. Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He's playing the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House and all we get is a lousy hat. …

His domestic policies would lead to recession. His foreign policies would make America and the world less safe. He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president. And his personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill.

» Photos by Gage Skidmore via Flickr / Creative Commons