Mitt Romney and John McCain Denounce Donald Trump as a Danger to Democracy
Source: nytimes.com
In an extraordinary public rebuke of Donald J. Trump’s campaign, Mitt Romney and John McCain, the last two Republican presidential nominees, denounced Mr. Trump in forceful terms on Thursday and warned that his election could put the United States and even its democratic political system in peril.
Offering himself as a bulwark against Mr. Trump’s march to the nomination, Mr. Romney laid out a precise and lengthy case against Mr. Trump, lacerating his business dealings, his erratic pronouncements on national security and demeaning treatment of women, minorities and the disabled.
Mr. Romney warned that Mr. Trump’s nomination would be calamitous for the Republican Party and, quoting John Adams, even suggested it could be suicidal for the country.
Evoking the specter of totalitarianism, he said Mr. Trump was amplifying a “brand of anger that has led other nations into the abyss.”
“His domestic policies would lead to recession,” Mr. Romney said. “His foreign policies would make America and the world less safe. He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president.”
Mr. McCain, once a rival of Mr. Romney’s, effectively linked arms with him soon after his address, saying that he shared Mr. Romney’s dismay about Mr. Trump’s ascent. Referring to a public letter released on Thursday by dozens of conservative national security leaders, who vowed never to support Mr. Trump, Mr. McCain echoed their concerns about Mr. Trump’s “uninformed and indeed dangerous statements on national security issues.”
The onslaught against Mr. Trump appeared aimed at sowing new doubts among voters about a man who has taken firm command of the Republican presidential race, and stiffening the resolve of mainstream Republicans to reject Mr. Trump.
But the timing of the assault, after Mr. Trump’s commanding electoral victories on Tuesday, may make it futile. And Mr. Romney’s history with Mr. Trump, which he ignored in his jeremiad on Thursday, could undercut the power of his warning: Mr. Romney eagerly sought and publicized his endorsement by Mr. Trump in 2012, even as Mr. Trump heckled and harassed President Obama with accusations that he was not born in the United States.
In an addendum to his speech conveyed on Twitter, Mr. Romney said that he would not have accepted the endorsement had Mr. Trump at the time made many of the divisive remarks he has delivered recently.
Mr. Trump answered Mr. Romney’s critique with a belittling rant at a midafternoon speech in Maine: He called Mr. Romney a “failed candidate” and mocked him for his politically damaging 2012 comments about the “47 percent” of Americans who do not pay taxes, and for fumbling his final debate with Mr. Obama. He described Mr. Romney as having debased himself to secure a Trump endorsement in that election.
“He was begging for my endorsement,” Mr. Trump said. “I could have said, ‘Mitt, drop to your knees.’”
Mr. Romney’s associates have called that characterization inaccurate.
It is unheard of in the modern Republican Party for mainstream leaders to savage a presidential candidate who appears well on his way to locking up the nomination. The Super Tuesday primaries more typically mark the beginning of the party’s rallying around a single candidate.
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