Republican Senator Mitt Romney is causing a commotion on his way out of Congress, encouraging never-Trumpers to back a single candidate and even naming two democrats to challenge Joe Biden for the White House.
At the E2 summit, hosted by Romney and his former running mate Paul Ryan, the senator pleaded with GOP donors to support a single candidate to go against Trump.
During a closed door conversation at the two-day forum in Park City, Utah, Romney said he would be happy with any one of them winning the nomination, according to The Washington Post.
‘I think our party has multiple personality disorder, and I think the Democratic Party does as well,’ the 2012 Republican presidential nominee said Tuesday.
‘I think we’re schizophrenic. We don’t know what we are or what we stand for within our party.’
Retiring Republican Senator Mitt Romney is putting his focus on finding a candidate to take on Trump in the 2024 election season, even encouraging democrats to challenge Biden
Romney and his former running mate Paul Ryan (pictured) hosted the E2 summit to find a Republican candidate to rally around
Ryan (left) and Romney (right) pictured on the campaign trial in 2012. The pair are trying to take back their party from Donald Trump
Deseret News reported that Romney, now free from the pressures of running a senate campaign, said he has encouraged democrat Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey and Mark Warner of Virginia to go up against Biden.
The pair lead the meeting of the minds which featured presidential hopefuls former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.
Other speakers include Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and former attorney general Bill Barr.
Notably, candidates Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy were not in attendance.
At the second GOP presidential debate chaos ensued where Republican candidates, minus Trump, talked all over each other and ignored the rules. They were pitted against each other rather than showing up as a united front against Trump.
The wide-ranging discussion at the summit touched on the US role in the Hamas-Israel war, as well as the threats posed by China, Russia and Iran. Both hosts were concerned with their party’s ability to take on these issues.
Ryan expressed he feels his party is drive by ‘populism untethered to principles’ and tethered to ‘the cult of Donald Trump’s personality.’
‘A guy, he’s 77 years old — and he’s got like 91 counts, and he’s got a shelf life. Hopefully it’s February, but maybe it’s a little longer,’ the former House speaker said of Trump.
Senator Cory Booker (left) joined Joe Biden at a campaign stop in 2020. Now, Romney has encouraged Booker to challenge Biden for the White House
Democrat Senator Mark Warner (center) talks to staff at the Senate office building in September. Warner is another candidate Romney suggested to run against Biden
Romney predicted multiple candidates will stay in the race for the early primaries, but wants a singular nominee sooner rather than later.
‘I’d like it to coalesce earlier; I just think it has to happen,’ he said. ‘I want to put responsibility on your shoulders as the people who are financing campaigns to have some say as to when it’s time for the person you support to say, “Okay, I’m getting behind someone else.”‘
The Utah Senator also addressed his decision to retire. He said there were far less opportunities to achieve bipartisanship.
He does not feel they would be able to solve some of his top issues like taking on China, reducing the nation’s debt, threats posed by artificial intelligence, climate change and immigration.
‘I’m going to work like crazy for whoever the next president is,’ he said, ‘to see if I can’t get that president to finally address these issues, because the clock is running out.’
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
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