Mitt Romney’s ominous warning on what Donald Trump’s behavior shows

Outgoing Senator Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, warned on Sunday that Donald Trump might “impose his will” on the country if reelected president in 2024.

Romney has served as a senator for the Beehive State since 2019, previously served as the governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007, and received the Republican nomination for president in 2012. Over the last several years, Romney has emerged as a prominent critic of Trump and the overall direction of the GOP under his leadership.

Citing those frustrations, he recently announced his intention to retire from the Senate at the end of his current term, airing out yet more grievances with his colleagues on the way out. On Sunday, Romney appeared on NBC News’ Meet the Press where he warned that Trump’s past and current behaviors present a grim forecast for his potential reelection, as opposed to anything he might say at rallies.

“I think we agree that we have looked at his behavior, and his behavior suggests that this is a person who will impose his will, if he can, on the judicial system, on the legislative branch, on the entire nation. When he called people to come to Washington, D.C., on January 6, that was not a random date. That was the date when peaceful transition of power was to occur. He called that on purpose. There’s no question he has authoritarian rulings and interests and notions which he will try and impose.”

Newsweek reached out to Trump’s team via email for comment.

Trump is currently the leading candidate for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination as he seeks to retake the White House. National polling averages have consistently given him near or over 50 percent support from likely Republican voters, while his closest rivals, like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, have struggled to maintain double-digit support.

During Romney’s Sunday appearance, host Kristen Welker pressed him for a reaction to Trump’s recent claim that he would be a “dictator” on “day one” of his second term if reelected. While Trump did subsequently attempt to downplay the comment, for many, it lined up with recent reports indicating his alleged plans to install loyalists throughout the federal government and conduct mass deportations, among other things.

“Donald Trump is kind of a human gumball machine,” Romney said. “A thought or a notion comes in and it comes out of his mouth. There’s not a lot of filter that goes on…He just says whatever. I don’t attach an enormous amount of impact to the particular words that come out and try to evaluate each one. I do think you can look at his record as president and in particular the last months of his presidency and say this is a dangerous approach, it’s an authoritarian approach. That gives me far more concern than him playing to the crowd as he did.”

Speaking at the New York Young Republican Club’s 111th annual gala on Saturday night, Trump repeated his claim that he wants to be dictator for “one day” if he reenters the White House.

“[Peter] Baker today in The New York Times, he said that I want to be a dictator. I didn’t say that, I said I want to be a dictator for one day,” the former president said. “And you know why I wanted to be a dictator? Because I want a wall, right? I want a wall and I want to drill, drill, drill.”