WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney unleashed a sharp attack on Donald Trump on Thursday in a last-ditch attempt to block him from the Republican presidential nomination — but Trump took him down with a withering comeback.
“I could have said, ‘Mitt, drop to your knees,’ and he would have dropped to his knees,” the real-estate mogul told supporters in Portland, Maine, saying Romney had “begged” for his endorsement in 2012.
In the latest extraordinary turn in the race, the GOP’s 2012 presidential nominee branded its current front-runner a “fraud” and a “phony” who would endanger the nation’s security.
Rather than backing any one of the other Republican candidates, Romney touted an anyone-but-Trump strategy that would effectively allow power brokers to select the nominee at the party’s convention in July.
“Given the current delegate-selection process, that means that I’d vote for Marco Rubio in Florida and for John Kasich in Ohio, and for Ted Cruz or whoever has the best chance to beating Mr. Trump in a given state,” he told a crowd in Utah.
If voters followed such advice, it could prevent Trump from assembling the 1,237 delegates he needs to win the nomination on the first ballot.
Late Thursday, CNN reported that Romney had instructed his advisers to explore what a convention fight might look like and what rules would need to be revised to freeze out Trump.
“It sounds like a plan to lock the convention” one source said.
In attacking Trump, Romney went down a list of grievances that have the GOP establishment fearing Trump couldn’t win a general election or be trusted to govern if elected.
“His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He’s playing members of the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House, and all we get is a lousy hat,” Romney said.
Sen. John McCain — the GOP’s 2008 presidential nominee whom Trump has questioned as a war hero — piled on by citing the mogul’s “uninformed and indeed dangerous statements on national security.”
It was a double-barreled, if belated, effort by establishment forces to derail Trump, who has amassed the most delegates.
Trump didn’t hold back in his response, telling supporters how Romney had “begged” for his support four years ago.
“I backed him — you can see how loyal he is,” Trump said at Thursday’s Maine rally.
He said the ex-Massachusetts governor “failed horribly” trying to unseat President Obama and “disappeared” at the end of the campaign, then “chickened” out of a run this year.
“Mitt was looking for zoning or something for a nine-car garage in California,” Trump said, reviving a criticism that the wealthy Romney was out of touch with average Americans.
“You help somebody, and then he turns. He probably had a right to turn because nobody could have been nastier than me in getting him not to run.”
Romney had a far different view of Trump in 2012, when he accepted the billionaire’s endorsement in Las Vegas.
“There are some things you just can’t imagine happening in life. This is one of them . . . Being in Donald Trump’s magnificent hotel and having his endorsement is a delight,” Romney had said.
Rudy Giuliani, a Trump pal, called Romney hypocritical Thursday, noting how, as a presidential candidate, he flip-flopped on issues, including abortion.
“We should let the Republican voters decide who the nominee should be,” the ex-mayor said.
“Mitt shouldn’t be eviscerating a Republican candidate. What we are doing is electing Hillary Clinton. I don’t want to hand the election to her.”
Check out Donald Trump unleashing on Mitt Romney:
Additional reporting by Carl Campanile