Romney … Really?

Two-time loser Mitt Romney, whose 2012 election run was a complete flop, has stepped in to do his best to ensure the GOP loses again in 2016.

In an incredible Establishment stunt, Romney held a press conference this morning in which he delivered a scathing excoriation of Donald Trump, with a litany of desperate half-truths and distortions designed to subvert Trump’s success.

Trump is “untrustworthy and dishonest as Hillary Clinton” and “must not become president,” Romney said. The notion of a former presidential candidate declaring to the country that the leading contender in his own party must not be president is simply astonishing — but the choice of a twice-failed candidate who represents everything against which Trump supporters are rebelling to do so is astonishingly out of touch.

The Establishment didn’t even trust Romney to sell its message in 2008, when they opted for McCain, and only reluctantly went with the moderate Mormon in 2012. He then ran a blunder of a campaign in which he famously claimed to have “binders full of women” and alienated half of the electorate.

Romney’s “Binders Full of Women” [lz_jwplayer video=”8f5DfjeZ” ads=”false”]

This is the man the Establishment appointed to lead the effort to steal the election from Trump? Unlike Trump, Romney not only failed to attract new voters, but he even turned off old ones, as unenthused Republicans stayed home in droves on election day in 2012.

“Romney couldn’t win it two times — and apparently wants to lose it a third time,” observed LifeZette Editor-in-Chief Laura Ingraham of Romney’s attempt to sink Trump. “The only thing he’s going to achieve if he … kills off Trump is Hillary,” she said.

“If Donald Trump’s plans were ever implemented, the country would slide into prolonged recession,” asserted Romney, who also implied Trump’s foreign policies would make America and the world less safe. To which the average American voter will pause and say to himself, “Hold on a sec — a recession happened under George W. Bush, and the GOP took us to war in the Middle East, the only discernible fruits of which at this point are ISIS in Syria and Iraq.”

Donald Trump said “he admires Vladimir Putin, while has called George W. Bush a liar,” Romney said. “That is a twisted example of evil trumping good.” But while the “Russia: evil, America: good” narrative may have worked in the 80s, today it is rare to find a populist or anti-globalist conservative who doesn’t to some degree admire Putin.

Putin — unlike the corporate-sponsored, self-loathing sophist milquetoasts who govern the West — actually acts in the interests of his own country. If the GOP during the Bush years had actually given that a try, Trump probably wouldn’t be where he is in the polls right now.

Romney’s Disastrous “47 Percent” Comment [lz_jwplayer video=”YcCQE9Uy” ads=”false”]

Romney also got personal, accusing Trump of being a “phony” and a “fraud” on Thursday, and claimed his “personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill.”

But for most Americans, the country ceased to be a shining city on a hill quite some time ago. Indeed, Romney and other Bushists were so busy praising America as an idea they failed to notice how miserable they made America as a place.

Indeed, Romney’s anti-Trump tirade is positioned to backfire spectacularly, reminding the people just why they hate the Establishment — and love Donald Trump — in the first place. The Establishment’s last best hope to stop Trump may be the best pro-Trump campaign ad yet.