http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/271962-romney-im-not-a-proxy-for-the-establishmentMarch 06, 2016, 10:17 am
Romney: I'm not a tool for the establishment
By David McCabe
Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said Sunday he didn’t offer his critique of Donald Trump as a tool of the Republican establishment.
"Establishment suggests that there must be some 'Wizard of Oz' somewhere pulling the strings. That's not the way it works,” he said on "Fox News Sunday."
"There are individuals like myself, I sat there and watched Donald Trump, and I said, 'Look, someone’s got to say something.’ I didn’t talk to anybody — say, 'I’m going to do a speech, you got some ideas?' This is something I did on my own because I care very deeply about the country."
Last week, Romney offered a rebuke of Trump as a charlatan with a string of failed business ventures behind him.
“He inherited his business, he didn't create it,” said Romney. “And what ever happened to Trump Airlines? How about Trump University? And then there's Trump Magazine and Trump Vodka and Trump Steaks, and Trump Mortgage? A business genius he is not.”
That’s led some observers to say Romney is simply defending the interests of established Republicans in Washington and donors around the country. But the former Massachusetts governor said on Sunday that is disproved by the fact that two of the candidates he says he could back — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) — have some level of anti-establishment credentials.
"Well, you can’t control Ted Cruz, for instance. No one has suggested you can do that,” he said. "And Marco Rubio, everybody tried to stop Marco Rubio from going against a sitting Republican governor in Florida. He did it anyway, and won."
