If anyone is wondering why members of the Republican party tread lightly where former President Donald Trump is concerned, they need only ask Utah GOP Sen. Mitt Romney, who on Tuesday told The New York Times that “I don’t know if he’ll [Trump] run in 2024 or not, but if he does, I’m pretty sure he will win the nomination.”

Romney agreed that plenty could happen between now and 2024 but adds that if he were to make a call based on the names that are being suggested as presidential contenders today, Trump still “wins in a landslide.”

But this doesn’t mean that Romney, who himself ran for president in 2012, would be inclined to support the 45th president, especially since he voted against Donald Trump in two impeachment trials. “I would not be voting for President Trump again. I haven’t voted for him in the past. And I would probably be getting behind somebody who I thought more represented the tiny wing of the Republican Party that I represent,” Romney tells the NY Times. 

Recent GOP poll data reflects Mitt Romney's view

Current poll numbers support Mitt Romney’s hypothesis, even after a second, historic impeachment trial. A poll conducted by Morning Consult and Politico found that 54 percent of GOP voters would still support Donald Trump in a presidential primary, even after the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection mounted against the U.S. Capitol. Morning Consult also reports the number reflected today is similar to the one seen in November before the 2020 presidential election. The hypothetical poll stacked Trump against his former VP Mike Pence, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, his own son Donald Trump Jr., and Sens. Mitt Romney and Ted Cruz. Nearly 60 percent of GOP voters also think Trump should play a bigger role in the Republican Party.

While Donald Trump Jr. had earlier taken to Twitter to go after Romney, the senator’s comments seem to have calmed Don Jr. down, because he later tweeted “Well look at that … Mitt got one right” as he shared Romney’s quote. But as one Twitter user points out, “Why is no one mentioning that he (Donald Trump) could be a felon by then several times over? Maybe it’s not politically nice to state the obvious, almost like you’re wishing for it.”

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