Donald Trump on Thursday responded to Mitt Romney’s decision to publicly trash his campaign by mocking Romney as someone who “chickened out” of the 2016 race in deference to Jeb Bush, who abandoned his campaign in February.
“Jeb Bush actually convinced Mitt not to run. Can you imagine?” Trump said to a crowd in Maine. “Jeb sold him!”
“Jeb is a good salesman. See, now that he’s out I’ll say Jeb’s a good salesman. He’s a high-energy salesman,” Trump said.
“But Mitt was afraid of Jeb because he was afraid that Jeb would get the money and Jeb would get the whatever,” Trump said. “I wasn’t afraid of Jeb, I can tell you.”
“What happened is, he went to see Jeb, and Jeb had him convinced that he’s going to run, he’s got the money… and Mitt chickened out,” Trump said. “But I’ll tell you the real reason he chickened out. It wasn’t Jeb, it was me.”
Trump spoke just hours after Romney publicly dismissed Trump as a “con man,” a “fraud” and a “phony.” Romney’s extraordinary comments were the clearest sign yet of establishment Republicans looking to throw off Trump’s momentum before he gets closer to winning the GOP nomination.
Trump again mocked Romney in Maine for desperately seeking Trump’s endorsement in 2012. But now, Trump called Romney “irrelevant” and stated that Romney “begged” Trump for his endorsement when Romney ran in 2012.
“I could have said ‘Mitt drop to your knees,’ and he would have dropped to his knees,” Trump said.
Trump also said Romney’s comment that “47 percent” of the voters would never vote for him sank him when he tried to win the White House in 2012.
“He demeaned 47 percent of the people in our country,” Trump said. “Once that was said a lot of people thought it was over for him.”
He also said Romney flaked in the closing days of the 2012 campaign by not making enough public appearances.
“Mitt was looking for zoning for a nine car garage or something in California,” Trump said. “He let us down. That was a race that should have been won… He let us down.”
Trump was forced several times during his speech to demand the removal of more protesters, who have been increasingly attending his speeches only to get tossed out.
“Get him out, please,” Trump said as the crowd roared. “Get him out.”
Trump was introduced by Maine governor Paul LePage, who is no stranger to controversy himself.
“People say I’m a lot like Donald Trump,” LePage said. “I find him a little bit shy, we’re going to get him out his shell.”
“He’s not afraid of the United States liberal media,” LePage said. “We have to fix our immigration; We have to fix our healthcare.”
