PBS NewsHour via YouTube

On Thursday morning, Mitt Romney became the most prominent member of the Republican establishment to go against Trump. Why this gambit seemed a good idea to party leaders is a little unclear. Perhaps the thinking was that despite his failed presidential campaign, it’s guaranteed about half of GOP voters will swoon when Romney makes an appearance. Of course, as soon as Romney resurfaced to offer commentary on the 2016 presidential race, Donald Trump, a 2012 supporter of Romney, scoffed at it.

“I’m not here to announce my candidacy for office and I’m not here to endorse a candidate today,” Romney said in his speech this morning. “Instead I’d like to offer my perspective on the nominating process of my party.”

But Romney didn’t just speak about the Republican party or the nominating process.

“I’m not Ronald Reagan, and this is a different time. But I believe with all my heart and soul that we face another time for choosing,” Romney announced.

Yes Mitt, Reagan actually won in one of those “times for choosing” otherwise known as the presidential election…every four years.

“Donald Trump says he is very very smart. I’m afraid to say that he is very very not smart,” Romney said, adding, “Donald Trump says he admires Vladimir Putin. At the same time he’s called George Bush a liar. That is a twisted example of evil trumping good.”

Romney didn’t elaborate on his admiration for the former president, although if he had, he’d be in the minority. Bush had less than a 30% approval rating by late 2008. Trump was simply the first person on TV to to blame Bush for 9/11.

Polls say that Trump would lose to Hillary Clinton. But according to Romney, dishonesty is the hallmark of both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton’s campaigns. “A person as dishonest and untrustworthy as Hillary Clinton must not become president,” he declared. “The last three decades the Clintons have embodied the term of crony capitalism. It disgusts the American people and causes them to lose faith in our political process.”

Watch Romney’s comments below (via YouTube):

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