(LibertySociety.com) – A coalition of anti-Trump Republicans met on October 10 to attempt to convince donors and party members to get behind a single candidate to try and prevent former President Trump from winning the Republican nomination. The event was held by Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Paul Ryan. Both have been outspoken in their criticism and opposition to a second Trump presidency. The summit took place behind closed doors in Park City, Utah.
Four candidates in the Republican presidential primary were invited to the summit, including former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and current North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum. Bill Barr, who was the United States Attorney General during the Trump administration, also attended the summit. Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who has been widely criticized by former President Trump, also made the trip to Utah to speak at the summit. The coordinator of the summit, Spencer Zwick, told Axios that the people attending “don’t just accept that Donald Trump is the nominee.”
Romney discussed the dissolution within both parties in Washington D.C. but focused mostly on the lack of cohesion in the Republican Party. “We don’t know what we are or what we stand for within our party right now,” Romney said to attendees. Ryan reiterated many of Romney’s comments but argued that the Democrats are battling with ideologies among their base, which he believes is messier than the Republicans’ problem of Donald Trump. Romney also told attendees that he was advocating to several Democrats, including New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and Virginia Senator Mark Warner, to run against Biden in the Democratic primary. However, he noted that no one has hinted that they would break from the Party’s chosen candidate. Former President Trump holds a commanding lead over all other candidates in the GOP primary, but the voters’ obvious choice was not considered or discussed during the summit.
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