On behalf of the Republican Establishment that has lost the popular vote in 5 of the last 6 presidential elections, the man who Candy Crowley turned into a quivering puddle of loser, stood before the cameras late-Thursday morning to hurl naked McCarthyism at Republican frontrunner Donald Trump. It’s fine to attack Trump, or anyone, on substance and legitimate differences of opinion and style, but this was pure MittCarthyism:

I predict that there are more bombshells in his tax returns. I predict that he doesn’t give much if anything to the disabled and to our veterans. I predict that he told the New York Times that his immigration talk is just that: talk.

Forget the fact that Mitt Romney is showing more fight and spirit and willingness to go scorched earth against Trump than he ever did when America most needed him, in 2012.

Forget the fact that this last minute push to defeat Trump, that most analysts admit is impossible, is almost certainly just another Republican Establishment grift; another phony GOP fundraising scam that is going to fail, just like all the other phony GOP fundraising scams. (Hey Sucker: Help Us Stop ObamaCare! Again!)

What is beyond disgraceful, though, is Mitt Romney, a man who himself was a victim of these McCarthy-ite tactics, gleefully practicing the same against Trump. With no evidence, nothing to back up his accusations, the same Mitt Romney who lacked the nerve to prosecute Obama over Benghazi, demanded a fellow Republican prove he’s not a communist liar, thief, or felon.

With his ham-fisted lecture against Trump as a “phony” and “fraud,” Romney also called millions of Republican voters suckers for supporting a “con man.” Who are these freaks?

Even though he lost what should have been a lay-up against a failed president, Romney always struck me as a man of character, a weak man in many ways, but still a decent man. Today, though, Romney revealed himself as just another con man, another GOP demagogue terrified at the idea of an outsider upsetting the business-as-usual that made him filthy rich while the middle class treaded stagnant water.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC