He once called Donald Trump “a con man,” but Mitt Romney now predicts that Mr. Trump would “easily” win his party’s presidential nomination in 2020 and “solidly” win a second term.
Mr. Romney, the GOP’s failed 2012 presidential nominee from Massachusetts, now a Republican Senate candidate in Utah, made the prediction on Thursday as he welcomed dozens of high-profile business and political leaders to a mountainside retreat in Utah Thursday night. As he has every year since 2012, Mr. Romney played host to an invitation-only summit focused on the future of American leadership at home and abroad.
The future, he predicted, would feature Mr. Trump as America’s leader at least for another six years.
The remarks from Mr. Romney marked a sharp reversal from his original impression of Mr. Trump. Mr. Romney briefly served as the face of the so-called “Never Trump” movement before the 2016 election.