Donald Trump Hits Back Following Tax Attack From Mitt Romney
Failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney has again made headlines in recent days with his attack against Donald Trump over his tax return. Mitt Romney has recently said that Trump’s tax return is likely to contain something of a bombshell. However, The Donald has now hit back at Romney, claiming his accusation to be out of hand while also managing to slide in an attack against the establishment.
Over the tax debacle, Donald Trump spoke to CNN’s Anderson Cooper and had the following to say.
“There is no bombshell at all other than I pay a lot of tax and the government wastes the money.”
Trump was also quick to issue a counter attack against Romney, who he claims to be “yesterday’s news,” which is an incredible turn of events when you take into consideration the fact that Trump actually endorsed Romney back during the 2012 election. However, the war of words between off-the-political-spectrum candidate Donald Trump and very much establishment-backed ex-candidate Mitt Romney only appear to be heating up.
Mitt Romney, who was one of the dumbest and worst candidates in the history of Republican politics, is now pushing me on tax returns. Dope!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2016
“@classyexplorer: @ahernandez85a Romney is a pawn of the Establishment and has no individual thought process. He is jealous of Trump!”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2016
Many of Trump’s supporters are likely to claim that given his previously failed presidential bid, Romney has no place to provide his opinion around this election. However, his intervention likely represents one of many panic moves on behalf of the Republican establishment right now. Many in the party are understandably concerned about the prospect of Trump gaining the nomination and being unable to give the party a good standing in the upcoming presidential election.
Like it or not, Mitt Romney is still a name that many Republican voters trust, so the party is likely going to want to use his influence in order to sway voters towards more conventional candidates like Marco Rubio, who many on the inside of the party are backing.
Mitt Romney made those aforementioned accusations during a recent interview with Fox News. Telling the news channel “we have good reason to believe that there’s a bombshell in Donald Trump’s taxes.” He then called for Trump to release his taxes along with the other leading candidates, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. Romney went on to explain that he believes Donald Trump either isn’t as wealthy as he says he is or possibly hasn’t been paying appropriate taxes. Either way, Trump is now believed to be considering whether or not he should release information around his taxes.
If Trump’s tax information does reveal a bombshell at the level Mitt Romney is predicting, then it could drastically damage his campaign. That’s because many of Trump’s supporters are backing the candidate because of his claims to fiscal responsibility. With that in mind, despite initially shrugging them off, Romney’s claims could be very damaging to Trump.
For the time being, though, Romney’s attacks certainly don’t appear to be doing anything to slow down the likelihood of Trump gaining the nomination. The war of words come following a third victory for Trump in the state of Nevada, where the candidate made a confident victory speech in Las Vegas. Trump’s incredibly large support base will simply see this as an attempt from Romney to reclaim a portion of the spotlight following his unsuccessful presidential bid in 2012.
At an earlier point in the race, Romney was believed to again place a bid for the Republican nomination but eventually decided against the idea. That’s a decision many within the Republican party are now likely to be regretting, considering Romney could just have been the candidate to steal votes away from Trump.
For now, Mitt Romney’s words might do something to damage Donald Trump, but they’re going to have to deal an awful lot of damage to prevent the inevitable.
[Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images]
