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US Sen Mitt Romney says he would opt for Democrat than Donald Trump or Vivek Ramaswamy in 2024 election
Sen. Mitt Romney's month-old interview resurfaced, causing outrage among supporters of Trump and Vivek Ramaswamy.
A month-old interview with Sen. Mitt Romney resurfaced online on Saturday, sparking outrage among supporters of former President Donald Trump and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
In the interview, Romney said he would prefer to vote for a Democrat than for Trump or Ramaswamy in the 2024 presidential election.
Romney, a Republican senator from Utah and the party's 2012 presidential nominee, made the comments to CBS news anchor Norah O'Donnell as part of a conversation about his new book. He said he would support almost any Republican candidate, except for Ramaswamy, whom he did not explain why he disliked.
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"I'd be happy to support virtually any one of the Republicans, maybe not Vivek, but the others that are running would be acceptable to me and I'd be happy to vote for them," Romney said.
He also said he would consider voting for some Democrats, saying they would be an improvement over Trump and possibly over Biden.
"I'd be happy to vote for a number of the Democrats too. I mean, it would be an upgrade from, in my opinion, from Donald Trump and perhaps also from Joe Biden," Romney said, without naming any specific Democrats.
Romney added that he liked Biden as a person, but disagreed with most of his policies and decisions. He said he hoped someone else would run for president in 2024.
"Look, I like President Biden. You know, I find him a very charming, engaging person. There’s some places I agree with him, but most places I disagree with him. I think he’s made all sorts of terrible mistakes, but I would like to see someone else run,” Romney said.
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Romney, who has been a vocal critic of Trump and voted to impeach him twice, also expressed his dissatisfaction with the direction of the Republican Party, which he said had become too populist.
The interview clip quickly went viral on X, a social media platform popular among pro-Trump die-hards, who slammed Romney for his remarks. Ramaswamy, who is running for president as a Republican, responded by calling Romney "not surprising" and pinned his post to the top of his X profile.
Conservative commentator Monica Crowley also attacked Romney on X, calling him a "uniparty loser" and pointing out that he is the uncle of Ronna Romney McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, who has also faced criticism from the base for the party's electoral failures under her leadership.
