Romney says safe future 'greatly diminished' with Trump

FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2015 file photo, former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Miss.
FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2015 file photo, former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Miss.

SALT LAKE CITY — Former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney said Thursday that the prospects for a safe future are "greatly diminished" if Donald Trump becomes the Republican nominee for president.

Speaking at the University of Utah, Romney warned a packed auditorium that any of the other GOP candidates would be a better alternative to the billionaire businessman.

"The only serious policy proposals that deal with the broad range of national challenges we confront today, come from Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich," Romney said of Trump's GOP rivals. "One of these men should be our nominee."

Romney charged into the White House race with a verbal lashing of Donald Trump and a plea for fellow Republicans to shun the front-runner for the good of country and party.

"His is not the temperament of a stable, thoughtful leader. His imagination must not be married to real power," Romney said.

Romney branded Trump as "a phony, a fraud" whose "promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University" in his speech.

Earlier Thursday, Trump dismissed Romney as "a stiff" who "didn't know what he was doing" as the party's candidate in 2012 and blew a chance to beat President Barack Obama. "People are energized by what I'm saying" in the campaign and turning out in remarkable numbers to vote, Trump told NBC's Today.

The back-and-forth comes as Republican candidates prepared for the first post-Super Tuesday debate, scheduled for Thursday in Detroit, with Trump coming under increasing pressure from his party as he fights for the majority of delegates needed to win the nomination.

Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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