Mitt Romney did not close the door on a “draft Romney” movement during a Sunday morning appearance on “Fox News Sunday.”
“I’m not running. I’m not planning on running,” Romney said, while stopping short of saying there are no circumstances in which he would accept the Republican presidential nomination.
Romney called speculation about that scenario “absurd,” but did not say it is impossible.
The former Massachusetts governor and 2012 presidential nominee gave an extraordinary speech Wednesday denouncing Republican frontrunner Donald Trump as a fraud who has supported Democrats and exaggerated his business success.
“He’s not the real deal,” Romney said Sunday. “He is a phony.”
Romney disputed the suggestion that he represents an effort by the Republican establishment to stop Trump.
“Establishment suggests that there must be some Wizard of Oz somewhere pulling the strings,” which is not true, Romney said.
“I sat there and watched Donald Trump and said, ‘Look, someone’s got to say something.'”
Romney accepted Trump’s endorsement in 2012, though Trump at the time was a leading voice in the so-called “birther” movement falsely claiming that Present Obama was not born in the United States.
Romney denied responsibility Sunday for helping legitimize Trump.
“There are a lot of people who endorsed me who I wouldn’t endorse for president,” he said. “Sixty-one million people voted for me. I don’t think all 61 million people ought to be president of the United States.”
Appearing earlier on Fox, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh cast Romney as condescending to conservative base voters.
Limbaugh, who has praised Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, sounded ready to back Trump as the GOP nominee.
“You deal with who you end up getting,” Limbaugh said. “On the case of Trump there’s a much bigger upside than downside.”
