Mitt Romney had his chance to lead and now he has declined to follow so the Republican Party would rather he just get out of the way.
Instead, Romney has called presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump a phony and fraud at a speech in Utah, attacked his policy ideas, and most recently said it's "disqualifying for a modern-day presidential nominee to refuse to release tax returns to the voters," Romney said in a
Facebook post.
This in contrast to 2012 when Romney called Trump's support an "honor" and praised the real estate mogul's business acumen.
So, what's behind the drip, drip, drip of Romney's attacks on Trump?
"I think Romney wants to run himself as a third party," Republican strategist John Feehery told
The Washington Times. "It is a little bit weird because Trump endorsed Romney and Romney made that a big deal. It seems very ungrateful."
In the end, however, falling in line behind Trump is the only move.
"You have two options," Ron Kaufman, former Romney senior adviser and current RNC member told the Times. "You can be on board and vote for Donald Trump and you can vote for Hillary Clinton, and there is no third option, and not voting means you are voting for Hillary.
"Everything else is make believe," Kaufman said.
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