Romney Warns About Trump's 'Authoritarian' Interests

GOP senator calls former POTUS a 'human gumball machine'
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 11, 2023 2:30 AM CST
Romney: Trump Is a 'Human Gumball Machine'
In this Oct. 16, 2012 file photo, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, left, and President Obama spar during a presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY.   (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

Following former President Trump's assertion that, if elected again, he will only act like a "dictator" on "day one," Mitt Romney has a warning for the United States. "His behavior suggests that this is a person who will impose his will if he can on the judicial system, on the legislative branch, and on the entire nation," the senator said in a Sunday interview on Meet the Press. And while Trump might be claiming he's talking only about his first-day agenda, Romney doesn't think it will end there. He pointed to Trump's call for supporters to flood the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. "That was the date when peaceful transfer of power was to occur," Romney said, per Politico. "No question he has authoritarian rulings and interests and notions which he will try and impose."

Romney also, however, described Trump as a "human gumball machine," saying that the former president has very little filter and "just says whatever" comes into his head. Because of that, Romney said, "I don't attach an enormous amount of impact to the particular words that come out." As for who he'd back in the 2024 presidential election, Romney said he'd love to endorse his Senate colleague Joe Manchin, but he doesn't expect the West Virginia Democrat to enter the race. He joked that he should perhaps consider endorsing whichever candidate he likes the least, since he's become a bit of an outsider in GOP circles and thus his support of a candidate might be "the kiss of death," the Guardian reports. He would not rule out the possibility that he might end up voting for President Biden next year. (More Mitt Romney stories.)

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