Trump and Romney's 10 harshest insults
Can Romney, who called Trump a 'fraud' and 'phony,' get the nod to be his secretary of state? Will the president-elect select a man he once dismissed as a 'stiff' who 'choked' in 2012?
By
MADELINE CONWAY
11/25/16 04:21 PM EST
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Mitt Romney called Donald Trump a "fraud" and "phony" whose words and actions are "degrading" to women, and whose policies would trigger a recession, make America less safe and foster an era of "trickle-down racism."
Trump labeled Romney a "stiff" and a "catastrophe" who had "choked like a dog" when he ran for president in 2012.
Now Romney is a top contender to become Trump's secretary of state, the U.S. government's voice to the world and fourth in line of succession for the presidency — if the two men can put aside the ugly words they hurled at each other during the past year.
Trump may be willing to forgive — The New York Times says he has told aides that Romney
“looks the part” — but many of the president-elect's fiercest supporters are
not yet ready to forget the former Massachusetts governor's outspoken role in the "Never Trump" movement. Romney might even have to offer a public apology if he wants the job, Fox News' Ed Henry
speculated Friday morning.
“Many inside the building believe in reaching out to those who worked against us but believe Romney is a bridge too far, untrustworthy and, frankly, that there are better alternatives,” a senior transition aide
told POLITICO.
Here’s a look back at the insults Trump and Romney traded over the course of the campaign:
1) Romney: On Muslims, Trump 'fired before aiming'
At first, the dispute was policy-focused: Romney took to Twitter in December to attack Trump's proposal for a ban on Muslim immigration and his praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"On Muslims, @realDonaldTrump fired before aiming," Romney
wrote while linking to a statement from House Speaker Paul Ryan about freedom of religion. Romney also offered an “important distinction” between Putin’s leadership and that of the United States: “[T]hug Putin kills journalists and opponents; our presidents kill terrorists and enemy combatants.”
2) Romney: Trump’s tax returns might contain a 'bombshell'
Romney grew more aggressive early this year as Trump’s lead in the Republican primaries became more clear — and he raised alarm bells over Trump's refusal to release his tax returns.
Accusing Trump of “dodging and weaving” on his taxes, Romney
suggested that his reasons for doing so were less than benign.
“We’re gonna select our nominee. We really ought to see from all three of these fellas what their taxes look like to see if there’s an issue there,” Romney said on Fox News. “I think in Donald Trump’s case, it’s likely to be a bombshell.”
3) Trump: Romney's a ‘fool’ who ‘totally blew an election’
Trump, not one to take an insult without responding,
dismissed Romney as a “fool” who “blew an election that should have been won” back in 2012.
“Mitt Romney,who totally blew an election that should have been won and whose tax returns made him look like a fool, is now playing tough guy,” he
tweeted.
“When Mitt Romney asked me for my endorsement last time around, he was so awkward and goofy that we all should have known he could not win!” he
continued.
4) Romney calls Trump a ‘fraud’
Romney took the dispute to an entirely new level in March, delivering a blistering speech in Utah denouncing Trump as a “phony” and “fraud” whose business ventures were much less successful than advertised and whose brand of foreign policy was “reckless.”
"Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University," Romney said to applause. "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.
"His domestic policies would lead to recession," Romney continued. "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."
From that day on, the GOP’s former standard-bearer was a face of the conservative “Never Trump” movement.
He did not endorse an alternative candidate, however. Instead he called on Republicans to vote against Trump strategically to deny him a majority of party delegates so that they could stop him at their nominating convention.
5) Trump: Romney's a 'stiff' who begged for my support in 2012
Trump
fired back the same day, mockingly recounting the way Romney had sought his endorsement in 2012.
“Why did Mitt Romney BEG me for my endorsement four years ago?” he demanded.
Phoning in to NBC’s “Today” Show, Trump also called Romney a “stiff.” To MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Trump described Romney as a “catastrophe” who was “just trying to stay relevant.”
6) Romney: Maybe I shouldn't have accepted Trump's endorsement
Asked to explain why he had accepted Trump's endorsement four years earlier, Romney suggested that he may not have had he known more about the billionaire’s views.
“Some of the things he’s said more recently would have made it difficult — particularly with regards to the Klu Klux Klan, things he’s said about Muslims in general — I’d have had a very difficult time standing next to him four years ago,” Romney
said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
7) Trump: Romney ‘choked like a dog’
Trump again mocked Romney as a loser,
telling an April rally in New York: "The last election should have been won, except Romney choked like a dog. He choked." Trump then grabbed at his neck, saying: “I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe.”
“Romney choked,” he repeated. “Romney can’t recover from a choke.”
8) Romney: Trump presidency would cause ‘trickle-down racism’
In June, Romney
suggested to CNN that a President Trump would have a terrible cultural impact on the country because of the way his rhetoric appealed to some people's inner racism.
“I don’t want to see a president of the United State saying things which change the character of the generations of Americans that are following,” Romney said of Trump, who was by then the presumptive Republican nominee. “Presidents have an impact on the nature of our nation, and trickle down racism and trickle down bigotry and trickle down misogyny — all of these things are extraordinarily dangerous to the heart and character of America.”
Asked if he considered Trump a racist, Romney added: “I think his comments time and again appeal to the racist tendency that exists in some people and I think that's dangerous.”
9) Trump doubles down on ‘choked'
“Mitt Romney had his chance to beat a failed president but he choked like a dog," Trump
said on Twitter. "Now he calls me racist-but I am least racist person there is.”
10) Romney 'offended and dismayed' by 'Access Hollywood' video
Romney, like many other Republicans, expressed disgust with the 2005 videotape that surfaced in October in which Trump bragged that he could get away with groping women because of his celebrity. The tape showed Trump guilty of "offensive conduct" as well as words, Romney
said at a rally in Las Vegas, where he said he was speaking on behalf of "myself and my party."
"I was offended and dismayed by what was said and done by Mr. Trump," he said. "I think it's degrading to our women, to our daughters, our granddaughters, to future generations."
Romney never endorsed Trump in the general election.
That's the new standard for political discourse.
