Mitt Romney has criticized President Donald Trump multiple times before, and on Tuesday the Senator-elect did it again.
In a scathing op-ed published in The Washington Post on the first day of 2019, the 71-year-old Republican Sen.-elect from Utah blasted Trump’s behavior since taking office two years ago.
Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and the 2012 GOP nominee for president, wrote that Trump’s words and actions are “evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office.”
“It is well known that Donald Trump was not my choice for the Republican presidential nomination,” Romney wrote. “After he became the nominee, I hoped his campaign would refrain from resentment and name-calling. It did not.”
“Trump’s words and actions have caused dismay around the world,” Romney added.
Trump responded in a tweet on Wednesday morning.
“Here we go with Mitt Romney, but so fast! Question will be, is he a Flake? I hope not,” Trump tweeted, referring to retiring Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, a GOP member who has blasted the President frequently in recent years. “Would much prefer that Mitt focus on Border Security and so many other things where he can be helpful. I won big, and he didn’t. He should be happy for all Republicans. Be a TEAM player & WIN!”
Romney — whom Trump supported in the 2012 presidential election — criticized the real estate mogul several times during the 2016 election. Although initially firing back at the Mormon with criticism of his own, Trump met with Romney shortly after he won his presidential bid in 2016 and speculation arose at the time that Romney would join the new administration for a top role like secretary of state. However, the former Massachusetts governor was ultimately denied a role in the White House. Trump endorsed Romney’s Senate campaign in Utah late last year.
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Brad Parscale, Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, replied to Romney’s op-ed with his own tweet on Tuesday night, saying Romney “lacked the ability to save his nation” while Trump “has saved it.”
“Jealously is a drink best served warm and Romney just proved it. So sad, I wish everyone had the courage [Trump] had,” Parscale wrote.
“I will speak out against significant statements or actions that are divisive, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, dishonest or destructive to democratic institutions,” Romney also pledged in his opinion piece, adding that he would not seek to respond to every single one of Trump’s tweets or controversial remarks or errors.
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