Romney offers vote to Cruz in Republican election battle
Desk Report
Mitt Romney said on Friday that he would vote for U.S. Senator Ted Cruz in the presidential nominating contest in Utah. He however did not officially endorse the candidate. He also told voters to deny the nomination to Donald Trump according to reports from Reuters.
Romney had little praise for Cruz, and said nothing of whether he would campaign with Cruz, who is a first -term senator from Texas.
Romney stated in a facebook post that the optimal way to ensure Trump does not lock down the nomination was to vote for Cruz in Utah’s caucus on Tuesday. This would offer a chance to the opponents in selecting another candidate at the party’s July convention.
Trump retorted by saying, “Mitt Romney is a mixed up man who doesn’t have a clue. No wonder he lost!” on Twitter.
Cruz, accepting the rather indifferent nature of Romney’s support, said that the vote itself imposes the idea that only his campaign can beat Trump.
“In my book, when someone says ‘I’m voting for you, and I encourage everyone else to vote for you,’ that’s pretty darn good,” Cruz told reporters in Arizona. “And I’ll take that and take that happily.
“As Mitt Romney observed today, if you want to beat Donald Trump, Cruz is the only campaign that can do it. That’s why he’s voting for me in Utah,” Cruz further said.
Romney called Trump a “fraud” and a dangerous demagogue. He went on to say how Trump would lose Hillary Clinton, who is the Democratic Party front-runner.
“Today, there is a contest between Trumpism and Republicanism,” Romney said. He went on to call Trump out for encouraging racism, misogyny and violence. “I am repulsed by each and every one of these,” he wrote.
Trump continues to gather victories in the state-by-state nominating process. The Republicans failed to amalgamate behind either of the two other candidates, Cruz or Kasich according to reports.