Mitt Romney cannot suddenly drop into the 2016 presidential race as an eleventh-hour candidate and hope to rescue the Republican Party from its deeply chaotic state, renowned GOP political consultant Mary Matalin tells
Newsmax TV.
"Romney would be not a plausible third-party candidate or the Republican candidate," Matalin, who was an adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, and campaign director for President George W. Bush, said Friday on "The Steve Malzberg Show."
"Who would he be advocating for? He doesn't appeal to conservatives, so who would he win? The 1 percent?"
Watch
Newsmax TV on
DIRECTV Ch. 349,
DISH Ch. 223 and
Verizon FiOS Ch. 115. Get
Newsmax TV on your cable system –
Click Here Now
On Thursday, Romney staged a "state of the presidential race" address at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, during which he lambasted Republican Donald Trump as a "phony" whose policies were a danger to the nation and should not get the Republican bid.
While Romney prefaced his remarks by saying he was not going to run for president a third time, some political analysts believe he would accept being drafted by the Republican establishment if the party is forced into a brokered convention.
Matalin said that shortly after Romney's Trump takedown, she asked a roomful of Republicans if the former Massachusetts governor's address would have any affect the billionaire developer's chances.
"These are not Trump voters, OK? Not a single person raised their hand. [What Romney did is] not the way to go at Trump and if it's his prelude for staking out a suggestion that he's available to run in the event of a chaotic convention, I think it's a mistake for him and a mistake for the party," Matalin said.
But Matalin added that Romney, who was trounced by President Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential race, should not simply fade into the sunset.
"Politically speaking, he shouldn't go away. He was our nominee, he's a great man, he has a great family, he has good supporters, he has great values," Matalin told Malzberg.
"He should still speak to the values, principles, and policies of conservative governance instead of getting in the scrum … Dudley Do Rights like Mitt Romney cannot go up against a bully like Trump.
"I'm from the South Side of Chicago, I'm from the steel mills. I get that Trump machismo and it's always going to beat, as we call them, the North Side kids. I don't even know why he even tried. It diminishes him in many ways."
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.