Conservative commentator Sonnie Johnson tells Breitbart News executive chairman Stephen K. Bannon that failed GOP nominee Mitt Romney — forced on the grassroots by the Republican establishment — only became brave after bowing out of earlier election battles.

“I went back to 2012, when we were telling the Republican establishment we don’t want Romney, and they told us to sit down, and to shut up, and Romney gave us the best chance, and Romney was the best hope,” Johnson said on Breitbart News Daily Friday morning.

“And Romney lost the election to Candy Crowley. He didn’t even lose to Barack Obama. He lost to Candy Crowley. To have him come out now… He never got up,” she added after Bannon said Crowley backed him down. “She punched him and he never got up. He didn’t even have to get knocked out by Obama’s economy. He didn’t have to get knocked out by Obama’s divisiveness. None of the things Obama did took out Mitt Romney. Candy Crowley took out Mitt Romney. And he didn’t get up after that.”

“No one talked about Donald Trump’s response,” Johnson continued.

Why didn’t Mitt Romney get into the election this year? Was it because Bush came to him and said this is my race to win, that I got the money, that I got the political power behind me, and you can’t beat me. And then Romney bowed to that. Nobody’s even talking about that, but I would like to know if that’s the real reason that he didn’t get into the election. Cowards get brave when they’re not in a fight,” she said. “And I think that’s what Mitt Romney showed us. He is a coward, and he likes to fight as long as it’s not his face on the other side of the fence.

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