Talk about political whiplash.
Exactly one week ago, 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney — in his effort to defeat Donald Trump — campaigned in Ohio with John Kasich, telling the state’s voters to cast ballots for their governor.
“Unlike the other people running, he has a real track record,” Romney said of Kasich. “He has the kind of record that you want in Washington, and that’s why I’m convinced that you’re going to do the right thing tomorrow.”
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Today, however, Romney’s voice appears on robocalls in Arizona and Utah, telling these voters to side with Ted Cruz — and not to vote for Kasich.
In the robocall, Romney calls Cruz “the only Republican candidate who can defeat Donald Trump,” and says “at this point a vote for John Kasich is a vote for Donald Trump.”
Now neither call is contradictory — Kasich can be the last Republican candidate left with “a real track record,” and Cruz can be the only candidate remaining “who can defeat” Trump. And this all plays into Romney’s call for Republicans to vote for the candidate to deny Trump the delegates he needs to get the nomination.
“Given the current delegate selection process, that means that I’d vote for Marco Rubio in Florida and for John Kasich in Ohio and for Ted Cruz or whichever one of the other two contenders has the best chance of beating Mr. Trump in a given state,” Romney said earlier this month.
But the pro-Kasich and then pro-Cruz/anti-Kasich calls — in the span of a week — are still a bit jarring.
This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com.
