Mitt Romney opened a new front in the Republican Party's civil war on Thursday, going after Donald Trump in a salt-the-earth speech that eviscerated the Republican front-runner as lacking the temperament, business record and substantive policies to occupy the White House.

Romney immediately said at the outset of his remarks he would neither endorse a candidate nor announce a third presidential bid of his own. Instead, he focused nearly the entirety of his speech — a stunning intervention in the already chaotic 2016 race — on the urgency of stopping Trump, a call that sparked outcry from Trump supporters but emboldened anti-Trump Republicans.


“If we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished,” Romney warned, speaking at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

Trump’s economic policies would lead to a sustained recession, Romney charged. “Isn’t he a huge business success and doesn’t he know what he’s talking about?” he asked mockingly. “No, he isn’t, and no he doesn’t.”

“He inherited his business. He didn't create it,” Romney said. “And what ever happened to Trump Airlines? How about Trump University? And then there's Trump Magazine and Trump Vodka and Trump Steaks and Trump Mortgage? A business genius he is not.”

Romney acknowledged last week that Trump has the clearest path to winning the Republican nomination. After sweeping through Super Tuesday, winning another seven states, Trump has only widened his delegate lead against his rivals.

“I know that some people want the race to be over,” Romney said. “They look at history and say a trend like Mr. Trump's isn't going to be stopped. Perhaps. But the rules of political history have pretty much all been shredded during this campaign.”

While Romney didn’t endorse anyone, he advocated for any Republican but Trump. "Given the current delegate selection process, this means that I would vote for Marco Rubio in Florida, for John Kasich in Ohio, and for Ted Cruz or whichever one of the other two contenders has the best chance of beating Mr. Trump in a given state," he said — signaling that the party's goal should be stopping Trump from amassing a majority of delegates, then picking someone else at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

Trump’s “reckless” foreign policies, Romney charged in an echo of President Barack Obama's own critiques, are fueling American enemies. “Donald Trump tells us that he is very, very smart,” Romney said. “I'm afraid that when it comes to foreign policy he is very, very not smart.”



Romney also slammed Trump as “a phony” and “a fraud” who is “playing the American public for suckers."



“His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University,” the former governor said.



Romney implored his listeners to consider Trump’s questionable behavior — he recently was slow to disavow the Ku Klux Klan, has frequently cursed on the trail, claimed to have seen Muslims celebrating 9/11 in New Jersey and mocked a series of people, ranging from 2008 GOP nominee John McCain to a disabled reporter.

Romney rips Trump as a 'phony' and a 'fraud' Romney rips Trump as a 'phony' and a 'fraud'

"Think of Donald Trump's personal qualities, the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third grade theatrics," Romney said. "We have long referred to him as 'The Donald.' He is the only person in America to whom we have added an article before his name. It wasn't because he had attributes we admired."

Romney also doubled down on his calls for Trump to disclose his tax returns and to allow The New York Times to release a transcript of an off-the-record conversation he had with its editorial board — both of which Romney speculated will contain a “bombshell.”

“I predict that despite his promise to do so, first made over a year ago, he will never ever release his tax returns. Never,” Romney said. “He has too much to hide. Nor will he authorize the Times to release the tapes. If I'm right, you will have all the proof you need to know that Donald Trump is a phony.”



Nominating Trump, he argued, would only mean one thing: President Hillary Clinton.

"A person so untrustworthy and dishonest as Hillary Clinton must not become president," Romney said, pointing to general-election matchup polls showing her ahead. "But a Trump nomination enables her victory."

"His domestic policies would lead to recession," Romney concluded, summing up his case. "His foreign policies would make America and the world less safe. He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president. And his personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill."

Trump throughout his campaign has heaped insults at his GOP rivals, media figures and anyone else who has criticized him. Romney highlighted the billionaire’s "vulgar" behavior and warned Republicans to watch his response carefully.



“Will he talk about policy differences or will he attack me with every imaginable low-road insult?” Romney said. “This may tell you what you need to know about his temperament, his stability, and his suitability to be president.”

Sarah Palin, McCain’s 2008 running mate and a Trump supporter, jumped to the real-estate magnate’s defense, urging him not to “take the bait.”

“The ‘machine's’ deception and nonsensical attack on Trump isn't really an attack on the candidate, it's an attack on conscientious, hardworking, patriotic Americans who know we need a revolution to stop the complicit politicians who are fundamentally transforming America,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “We found the revolutionary.”

“Don't take the bait, Mr. Trump,” she added. “It's not about you. It's about us. And we've got your back.”



The Manhattan mogul had already responded to early excerpts of Romney’s remarks with a pre-emptive strike of his own on Thursday morning, phoning into morning shows and unleashing a cavalcade of tweets against Romney, who sought Trump’s support during his 2012 run.



As Trump recalls it, “He begged me four years ago for my endorsement — I mean literally begged me,” he told NBC’s “Today.” “And he’s a failed candidate. I mean, frankly I backed him; he failed. He was a horrible candidate.”

Hours later, Trump ratcheted up his rhetoric during a rally in Portland, Maine. “I could have said, ‘Mitt, drop to your knees.’ He would dropped to his knees,” Trump told supporters, before taking credit for being the reason Romney “chickened out” from launching another campaign.



In February 2012, Trump praised Romney and introduced him as someone who “wouldn’t allow bad things to continue to happen to this country that we all love.”



“There are some things that you just can’t imagine happening in your life,” Romney said, beaming as he accepted Trump’s support. “This is one of them. Being in Donald Trump’s magnificent hotel and having his endorsement is a delight. I’m so honored and pleased to have his endorsement.”



But on Thursday, those pleasantries seemed a distant memory. After his speech, Romney insisted he would have never accepted Trump’s support if his rhetoric was as savage back then as it is now. “If Trump had said 4 years ago the things he says today about the KKK, Muslims, Mexicans, disabled, I would NOT have accepted his endorsement,” Romney tweeted.

“Mitt Romney is a stiff,” Trump told "Today." “Mitt Romney will not get elected. Mitt Romney failed twice and really failed last time. He was going against a president that should have been beaten.”

Romney, Trump said, had disappeared in the month leading up to the election. “This guy disappeared. He went away,” he said. “And he got killed. He got decimated in the election.”

Trump also renewed his threat to run as an independent candidate In a separate phone interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe," despite his 2015 pledge to remain in the Republican Party and support its nominee.

“I am watching television and I am seeing ad after ad after ad put in by the establishment knocking the hell out of me, and it’s really unfair,” he said. “But if I leave, if I go, regardless of independent, which I may do — I mean, may or may not. But if I go, I will tell you, these millions of people that joined, they’re all coming with me.”



Trump’s pushback comes as his rivals, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, have intensified their attacks ahead of Thursday night’s debate, while a trio of anti-Trump groups have stepped up their fundraising efforts and launched new ads in a coordinated assault portraying the front-runner as untrustworthy and erratic.

The biggest focus is on Florida, a must-win state for Rubio that votes on March 15. Club for Growth, an anti-tax group that has been hammering Trump on the airwaves, has purchased $1.5 million in TV advertising in the state. Another conservative outfit that has been targeting the New York billionaire, American Future Fund, has reserved $1.75 million of commercial time. A third anti-Trump group run by former top Romney aide Katie Packer, Our Principles PAC, is considering advertising there too.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, who was Romney's running mate in 2012, appeared on Fox News Thursday morning and was asked about the Romney's speech — which he said he hadn't read yet.

“As you know, Mitt and I are very close friends,” Ryan said. “He’s very worried about the future of our party and our country. He’s a principled conservative. And he’s got a lot to say, and I look forward to seeing what he has to say.”

Ryan condemned Trump earlier this week for his dalliance with David Duke, but the Republican leader, who has sought to remain neutral in the race, refused to get in the middle of the brewing battle between Romney and Trump.

“We don’t have a nominee yet,” he said. “This thing still has a ways to play out, and so people who are in the party are gonna be speaking their minds while we’re selecting a nominee and so everything’s fair game on the way to the nomination.”