Mitt Romney urges ‘megadonors and influencers’ to collaborate and stop Trump

In an op-ed published on Monday by the Wall Street Journal, Romney encouraged Republican candidates that don't have a chance of stacking up against the former president to drop out of the race and support one candidate that can take Trump on. The senator explained that Trump can only be defeated if Republican megadonors and influencers collaborate together to throw support behind one candidate that isn't Trump.

"Despite Donald Trump’s apparent inevitability, a baker's dozen Republicans are hoping to become the party’s 2024 nominee for president,” he wrote. “That is possible for any of them if the field narrows to a two-person race before Mr. Trump has the nomination sewn up."

With the increase in influence that megadonors have on candidates due to the rise in super PACs, Romney explained that "donors who are backing someone with a slim chance of winning should seek a commitment from the candidate to drop out and endorse the person with the best chance of defeating Mr. Trump by Feb. 26."

Romney, a longtime vocal critic of Donald Trump, urged donors to stop listening to party officials and to take matters into their own hands.

"Donors may think that party leaders can narrow the field. Not so. Candidates don't listen to party officials, because voters don't listen to them either. And the last people who would ever encourage a candidate to withdraw are the campaign staff and consultants who want to keep their jobs for as long as possible," Romney said. "They buck up candidates, promoting long-shot prospects and favorably biased internal polls. I can almost hear the words from "Dumb and Dumber"—"So you’re telling me there's a chance?"

The US senator from Utah concluded by calling on "lost-cause" candidates to exit the race once it becomes clear that they have no path to victory.

"Our party and our country need a nominee with character, driven by something greater than revenge and ego, preferably from the next generation. Family, friends and campaign donors are the only people who can get a lost-cause candidate to exit the race. After Feb. 26, they should start doing just that," Romney explained.

According to recent polls, former President Trump is poised to win the Republican presidential nomination as data shows him dominating fellow GOP challengers by large margins.

Sen. Mitt Romney received a "Profile In Courage" award from the JFK Library in 2021 for being the first person to go against his own party line in the Trump impeachment trial.