Mitt Romney's 2016 anti-Trump speech
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

On March 3, 2016, U.S. Republican politician
Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts f ...
delivered a major speech for the
Hinckley Institute of Politics The Hinckley Institute of Politics is a nonpartisan institute located on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City, Utah. Its purpose is "to engage students in transformative experiences and provide political thought leadership" through inv ...
at the Libby Gardner Hall in the
University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...
. In that speech, he denounced
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
, who was then the front-runner in the
2016 Republican Party presidential primaries Presidential primaries and caucuses of the Republican Party took place within all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories between February 1 and June 7, 2016. These elections selected the 2,472 delegates that were se ...
. He urged citizens to use
tactical voting Strategic voting, also called tactical voting, sophisticated voting or insincere voting, occurs in voting systems when a voter votes for another candidate or party than their ''sincere preference'' to prevent an undesirable outcome. For example, ...
in the remaining primaries and caucuses to maximize the chance of denying Trump a
delegate Delegate or delegates may refer to: * Delegate, New South Wales, a town in Australia * Delegate (CLI), a computer programming technique * Delegate (American politics), a representative in any of various political organizations * Delegate (United ...
majority. Romney's speech represented an almost unprecedented attack by a major U.S. party's most recent presidential nominee against the party's current front-runner for the nomination. Trump dismissed the comments, criticizing Romney for his losses in the
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
and 2012 presidential elections and for "working with the establishment." Two months after the speech, Trump secured the Republican Party's presidential nomination and subsequently won the
general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
and became the
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
.


Background

Romney was the Republican nominee in the
2012 U.S. Presidential election The 2012 United States presidential election was the 57th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. Incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, incumbent Vice President Joe Biden, were re-el ...
. Romney reportedly sought an endorsement from Trump, who endorsed Romney in February 2012. After Romney lost the election to
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
, he decided not to run again for president in 2016. Instead, he initially decided to play a sideline role in the election. However, he grew frustrated with Trump's campaign platform and his rise in popularity. In January, Romney considered doing an interview to point out Trump's flaws. Romney's former campaign advisers told him that such an attack on Trump would likely backfire, and Romney decided against it. Romney viewed Trump's apparent failure to disavow former
Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
leader David Duke in a
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
interview as the final straw, and decided to speak out.


Speech


Announcement

In a press release issued on March 2, 2016, Mitt Romney announced he would address the "state of the 2016 presidential race". The speech, scheduled to be delivered at the University of Utah's Libby Gardner Hall and hosted by the Hinckley Institute of Politics Forum was described by sources with advanced knowledge of its content as a chance to criticize Trump's progress toward the Republican Party's 2016 presidential nomination. Romney had initiated a targeted attack against Donald Trump via media interviews and written statements in the days preceding the speech, criticizing Trump for not releasing his tax returns and predicting "bombshells" were hidden in the documents. The following morning, on March 3, Romney released excerpts from the planned speech to select media outlets.


Speculations regarding purpose

Although Romney began the speech by expressly disavowing any intention to seek the 2016 Republican nomination himself, several media outlets theorized that the speech was intended to inject Romney back into the national discussion in an effort to introduce him as a compromise candidate during the
2016 Republican National Convention The 2016 Republican National Convention, in which delegates of the United States Republican Party chose the party's nominees for president and vice president in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, was held July 18–21, 2016, at Quicken Lo ...
, should Trump not obtain a majority of votes on the first ballot and a
contested convention A brokered convention (sometimes referred to as an open convention and closely related to a contested convention), in US politics, can occur during a presidential election when a political party fails to choose a nominee on the first round of dele ...
result. Following the speech, online betting site
PredictIt PredictIt is a New Zealand-based online prediction market that offers exchanges on political and financial events. PredictIt is owned and operated by Victoria University of Wellington with support from Aristotle, Inc. The company's office is loc ...
saw a spike in wagers that Romney would eventually be a candidate for president, with a seven-fold increase in oddsmaking on the prospect.


Content

The speech, which was delivered on March 3 several hours before a GOP presidential debate, lasted approximately twenty minutes. Romney used the address, a targeted critique of Donald Trump, to declare that the candidate's promises were "worthless", describe him as a "fraud", and claim that "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." Romney went on to predict that Trump would be handily defeated by
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
in the general election, should he receive the Republican nomination, and criticized Trump for calling
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
a liar. Romney encouraged Republicans to engage in
tactical voting Strategic voting, also called tactical voting, sophisticated voting or insincere voting, occurs in voting systems when a voter votes for another candidate or party than their ''sincere preference'' to prevent an undesirable outcome. For example, ...
, by supporting whichever of the three remaining rivals –
Ted Cruz Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from ...
,
Marco Rubio Marco Antonio Rubio (born May 28, 1971) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the senior United States senator from Florida, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Speaker of the Florida Hous ...
, or John Kasich – had the best chance to beat Trump in any given state, thus increasing the chance that Trump would be unable to gain a majority of all delegates selected.


Historic nature

As an attack by a major U.S. party's presidential nominee against the party's front-runner for the nomination, Romney's speech had few precedents in American history. There was also little precedent for a major party figure such as Romney urging a course of action that would lead to a contested convention. The speech was considered prime evidence that the Republican Party had fallen into an internal schism. Jonathan Martin of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' wrote, "Mitt Romney's political assault on Donald J. Trump on Thursday was so savage that historians strained to recall any precedent in American politics, with a major party's former nominee blistering his party's leading presidential candidate in such a personal and sweeping fashion." Historians pointed to two instances:
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
harshly criticizing
William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...
on a personal basis when Roosevelt split from the Republicans, and the erstwhile friends ran against each other in the 1912 U.S. presidential election, and
Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was an American politician who served four terms as Governor of New York and was the Democratic Party's candidate for president in 1928. The son of an Irish-American mother and a C ...
, the Democratic nominee in the 1928 U.S. presidential election, strongly denouncing Democratic President
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
and the
New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
in a 1936 speech before the American Liberty League; However, neither instance was thought to be truly comparable to Romney's denunciation of Trump.


Reaction


Donald Trump

Donald Trump responded to Romney's initial press release scheduling the speech by describing it, in a post to his Twitter account, as "another desperate move by the man who should have easily beaten Obama". On March 3, the morning of the speech, Trump telephoned the '' Today Show'' and attacked Romney as a "stiff" who had, as a presidential candidate, "failed twice". Following the speech, Trump immediately responded with what ''
Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...
'' described as "withering scorn," dismissing Romney as a "choke artist." At a campaign rally in Portland, Maine, Trump told supporters, in reference to the 2012 presidential election, "I backed Mitt Romney. He was begging for my endorsement. I could have said 'Mitt, drop to your knees.' He would have dropped to his knees." In messages posted to his
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account, Trump went on to describe Romney as a "failed candidate" who was "working with the establishment". Trump continued to mock Romney's speech in late May, saying: "He walks like a penguin onto the stage. Like the penguin!"


Others


Activists and analysts

* Former
Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fu ...
chairman Michael Steele questioned whether Romney's speech would have any impact at all. Commenting on Romney's 2012 presidential bid, Steele noted that "Romney lost three million Republicans, who didn't even bother to show up and vote for him because they did not support his campaign. So now to double back and to go after the very guy who has brought them back into the party ... I don't understand what they think is going to happen here." * In an online editorial for
Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
, veteran conservative commentator Jonah Goldberg applauded Romney's speech as "lucid, morally compelling, factually and analytically correct in every way". * Matt Schlapp, president of the
American Conservative Union The American Conservative Union (ACU) is an American political organization that advocates for conservative policies, ranks politicians based on their level of conservatism, and organizes the Conservative Political Action Conference. Founded on ...
, reacted to Romney's speech by saying that "it's strange to see people all of a sudden become animated when they are against somebody that 40 percent of the voters, at least in the Republican primaries, seem to be standing for." * Eric Trump, in a statement posted to
social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
, criticized Romney for not showing more loyalty to his father. Donald Trump had endorsed Romney during the
2012 U.S. presidential election The 2012 United States presidential election was the 57th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. Incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, incumbent Vice President Joe Biden, were re-el ...
; at the time, Romney praised Trump's business savvy. * Roger Stone, a political strategist and Trump supporter, said after the speech that "being called a phony by Mitt Romney is like being called ugly by a frog".


Elected officials

* Senator
John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
released a statement following the speech in which he said "I share the concerns about Donald Trump that my friend and former Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, described." McCain had been the Republican presidential nominee before Romney, in the
2008 U.S. presidential election The 2008 United States presidential election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from ...
, and his siding with Romney – although not in as strong terms – emphasized the unprecedented nature of the intra-party strife. * In an interview with Katie Couric, presidential candidate Ben Carson said he did not believe Romney's speech was helpful and criticized it for being overly negative. * Utah Governor Gary Herbert, who attended Romney's speech, said there was "room to criticize" Trump and that Romney "hit it out of the park". *
Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives The speaker of the United States House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House, is the Speaker (politics), presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article One ...
Paul Ryan Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is an American former politician who served as the List of Speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 54th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019. A member o ...
, who was Romney's running mate in 2012 and who had dined with Romney prior to the speech, declined to comment on it, or Trump, afterwards, saying he sought to remain politically neutral so as not to compromise his position as chairman of the Republican National Convention.


Media

* In an analysis of the speech, ''
Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...
'' observed that the speech was "a stirring call to arms for a strategic-voting retreat". * Following the speech, ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' concluded that "being attacked by Romney is more likely to cement Trump's hold on the nomination than loosen his grip on it". * ''Fortune'' opined that Romney's speech would be largely ineffective, noting that "it won't matter a lick to Trump’s supporters. If anything, the denunciation of two-time presidential election loser Mitt Romney may make them even more likely to go out and vote for Trump."


Social media

On Twitter, users posted about Romney approximately 38 times per second immediately following the speech, with positive comments about Romney slightly eclipsing those for Trump.


Popular culture

In the March 5, 2016, episode of ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
'',
Jason Sudeikis Daniel Jason Sudeikis ( ; born September 18, 1975) is an American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. In the 1990s, he began his career in improv comedy and performed with ComedySportz, iO Chicago (Improv Olympic), and The Second City. In 200 ...
made a guest appearance portraying Mitt Romney in a sketch set-up as an interview between Romney and CNN's Jake Tapper (played by Beck Bennett). In the sketch, Sudekis' Romney entered the scene by announcing "that's right, America, I'm back. You didn't ask for it, but you've got it."


Effects

Two days after the speech, Cruz showed strength in the March 5 contests, winning decisive victories in the
Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
and Maine caucuses while coming a close second to Trump in the Kentucky caucuses and
Louisiana primary The "Louisiana primary" is the common term for top-two runoff voting system where all candidates for the same office appear together on the ballot in the general election, and if none win a Majority, simple majority, a runoff or second round el ...
. Whether this could be attributed to the effect of Romney's speech was difficult to determine. In the March 8 primaries, Trump won three states of four, and subsequent primaries into April showed a mixed pattern, with some key Cruz victories being followed by just as important Trump triumphs. Meanwhile, a
Morning Consult Morning Consult is a global decision intelligence company established in 2014. It was named one of the fastest growing technology companies in North America by Deloitte in both 2018 and 2019 and was valued at more than one billion dollars in Jun ...
poll conducted March 4–6 found that 31 percent of Republicans in fact considered themselves more likely to vote for Trump given Romney's speech, compared to only 20 percent who said they were less likely. Despite this, on March 8, Romney appeared as a guest on '' Jimmy Kimmel Live'' and called for Trump to drop out of the race altogether. Scattered instances of Romney's proposed tactical voting occurred after this, including suggestions by Rubio shortly before March 15 results forced his withdrawal from the race. Romney announced his own instance of tactical voting on March 19 by saying he was voting for, although not endorsing, Cruz for president in the March 22 Utah caucus. He said of Kasich, "I would have voted for him in Ohio. But a vote for Governor Kasich in future contests makes it extremely likely that Trumpism would prevail." Cruz ended up winning the Utah contest by a very large margin. Before the New York primary, with the race Cruz, Kasich, and Trump, Romney stated that keeping the race between three people would likely give Trump the nomination on the first ballot of the convention. Romney's original vision was formally fulfilled on April 24, when Cruz and Kasich announced an alliance of convenience whereby Kasich would stop campaigning for the following month's Indiana primary and Cruz would do the same for contests in Oregon and New Mexico. As NPR wrote, "It took them nearly two months to do so, but John Kasich and Ted Cruz are finally taking Mitt Romney's advice." The alliance was not long-lived, however: in the May 3 Indiana primary, Trump won a majority of the vote and all of the delegates. Cruz dropped out of the presidential race that night and Kasich followed the next day, making Trump the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party. In reaction to the outcome, Romney declared that he would not support Trump, saying, "I am dismayed at where we are now, I wish we had better choices, and I keep hoping that somehow things will get better, and I just don't see an easy answer from where we are." Romney also said he would not attend the Republican convention. Efforts among the
Never Trump The Never Trump movement, also called the #nevertrump, Stop Trump, anti-Trump, or Dump Trump movement, began as an effort on the part of a group of Republicans (known as Never Trump Republicans) and other prominent conservatives to prevent R ...
movement continued, however. In late May, pundit and publisher William Kristol said that Romney was "thinking seriously" about mounting a third-party run for the White House. But Romney ruled himself out several times, although he indicated that he would support a third-party candidate and was considering
Libertarian Party Active parties by country Defunct parties by country Organizations associated with Libertarian parties See also * Liberal parties by country * List of libertarian organizations * Lists of political parties * Outline of libertarianism ...
candidate
Gary Johnson Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman, author, and politician. He served as the 29th governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party. He was the Libertarian Party nominee for Presid ...
and his running mate
William Weld William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
.


See also

*
2016 Republican National Convention The 2016 Republican National Convention, in which delegates of the United States Republican Party chose the party's nominees for president and vice president in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, was held July 18–21, 2016, at Quicken Lo ...
*
2016 Republican Party presidential candidates This article contains the list of candidates associated with the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries for the 2016 United States presidential election. Candidates Individuals included in this section have their own Wikipedia page and ...
*'' The Case for Impeachment''


Notes


References


External links


Full transcript of speech

Full speech
March 3, 2016, C-SPAN
Response to the Romney speech by Donald Trump
March 3, 2016, C-SPAN {{Donald Trump 2010s in Salt Lake City 2016 in Utah 2016 speeches 2016 controversies in the United States Articles containing video clips Criticism of Donald Trump March 2016 events in the United States Never Trump movement 2016 United States Republican presidential primaries University of Utah 2016 anti-Trump speech