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Romney takes to cable news networks, continues attacks on Trump

Posted at 6:40 PM, Mar 04, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-04 20:40:16-05

SALT LAKE CITY -- Mitt Romney clearly doesn’t intend to fade back into the shadows after his speech denouncing Donald Trump on foreign policy, business ethics and personal deportment.

“When my Grandkids say, 'What did you do to stop Donald Trump?' I want to be able to say something," Romney said. "I wasn’t going to sit on the sidelines until the very end."

Romney joined a growing community of Republican leaders who are saying they will not vote for Trump if he is their party’s nominee.

“I hope to be able to find a conservative on the ballot who I can vote for, but Donald Trump just doesn’t represent the kind of qualities that I think should be in the President of the United States,” Romney said.

Utah’s Lt. Governor, Spencer Cox, made a similar statement to Fox 13 on Thursday, and Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse said this week he will look for a third-party nominee if Trump runs.

Romney has gotten mixed reviews for the speech.

Some Utah politicos praised him for courage and eloquence, including Tim Chambless from the University of Utah Hinckley Institute of Politics.

“That speech may be the best speech I’ve seen him give,” Chambless said.

But the candidates who are running against Donald Trump largely avoided talking about Romney. When Ohio Governor John Kasich was asked about it, he was ambivalent.

"His people really don't, frankly, what Mitt Romney has to say about Donald Trump, they just don't care,” Kasich said.

The person who focused most on what Romney said seemed to be Donald Trump himself, who spent much of his time on the stump in Maine and Michigan, and on the debate stage in Detroit, denouncing Romney.

“He thinks he's hot stuff," Trump said. "I hate people who think they are hot stuff and they're nothing."