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Trump will 'solidly' win re-election in 2020, Mitt Romney predicts

Mr Romney has been critical of Mr Trump's personal style, but has said the president has made some good decisions during his first months in office

Clark Mindock
New York
Friday 08 June 2018 16:32 BST
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Mr Romney is running to become a US senator serving Utah
Mr Romney is running to become a US senator serving Utah

Mitt Romney, a prominent former critic of President Donald Trump, says that he thinks the commander-in-chief will easily win re-election if he chooses to run again in 2020.

Mr Romney — who once predicted that Mr Trump would lead the United States into recession while tearing apart the very fibres of American morality — said that a strong economy and fractured Democratic party spell good things for the president’s future prospects.

“I think President Trump will be re-nominated by my party easily, and I think he’ll be re-elected solidly,” Mr Romney said Thursday night during an address to major Republican donors in Utah, according to Politico.

“I think that not just because of the strong economy and because people are increasingly seeing rising wages, but I think it’s also true because I think our Democrat friends are likely to nominate someone who is really out of the mainstream of American thought and will make it easier for a president who is presiding over a growing economy,” Mr Romney, who is running for the US Senate in Utah, continued.

Mr Romney’s public comments on Mr Trump have grown noticeably more supportive since he surprised the nation with an election victory over Hillary Clinton, who was widely seen during the 2016 election as the likely candidate to win the election.

That support has been more noticeable this year as Mr Romney has run a campaign in a conservative state where he is seen as very likely to win the seat he is seeking.

But, Mr Romney has maintained that he does not personally agree with the president’s personal style, even though he has largely praised some of his early work as president.

I wouldn’t “point to the president as a role model for my grand kids on the basis of his personal style,” Mr Romney said during a recent interview with NBC News. “He has departed in some cases from the truth, and has attacked in a way that I think is not entirely appropriate.”

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