Mitt! Please Don’t Deliver This Terrible Speech! Here Is a Better Idea
Mitt Romney has scheduled a speech for 9:30 a.m. Utah time today, in which he will make a forceful statement opposing Donald Trump. We know this because Mitt Romney already released the highlights of his speech to major media outlets, so they have time to pre-write stories about his bold move.
This is exactly why Donald Trump is barreling toward the Republican nomination and Mitt Romney is at loose ends. In response to Trump’s spontaneity and showmanship, the party is sending its last nominee out to recite a canned script. Trump is “a phony, a fraud,” Romney will say, according to the media outlets that have been briefed on what Romney will say.
There is no reason for anyone to watch this speech that Romney plans to give. Trump has already responded to it:
I am the only one who can beat Hillary Clinton. I am not a Mitt Romney, who doesn't know how to win. Hillary wants no part of "Trump"
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2016
Mitt Romney is not going to win an insult contest against Donald Trump. He is definitely not going to win an insult contest against Donald Trump in which he has already handed Trump an advance list of his planned insults.
Mitt! Don’t do this. Listen, please. You are not that guy.
You know who you are, though? You are a business consultant.
Here’s the plan. You have a little less than an hour left. Throw your pugnacious-yet-statesmanlike speech in the trash. In the recycling bin. It has already been delivered to the only people who are interested in it.
Now find a printer and print yourself a copy of Trump’s financial disclosure and a copy of his summary of his net worth. Fortune read those over and concluded that Trump seems to be conflating his revenue and his income, and that “Trump appears to have overstated his income, by a lot.”
It’s fun to hear that from a journalist, but how much more impressive would it be to hear it from a highly successful business expert? From, say, Mitt Romney?
So read the Trump papers over, with your best Bain eyes. Then bring them up to the podium and tell America what you see, off the cuff. Riff on the numbers. Tell some cruel truths. Give us all a lesson in how business works, and in how you understand Trump’s business to work.
Have fun! There would be no greater service that Mitt Romney could offer his country. Please do this.