If Mitt Romney
wanted to ignite a debate about the suitability of Donald Trump for the White
House, he succeeded, at least on social media.
Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, lambasted Trump in a speech on Thursday in Salt Lake City, Utah, calling him "a phony, a fraud" and saying it is his "very brand of anger that has led other nations into the abyss."
The speech by Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, was the latest illustration of how badly many mainstream Republican leaders want to stop Trump, the clear front-runner, from becoming his party's nominee in November's election to succeed President Barack Obama.
Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, lambasted Trump in a speech on Thursday in Salt Lake City, Utah, calling him "a phony, a fraud" and saying it is his "very brand of anger that has led other nations into the abyss."
The speech by Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, was the latest illustration of how badly many mainstream Republican leaders want to stop Trump, the clear front-runner, from becoming his party's nominee in November's election to succeed President Barack Obama.
Twitter users posted
about Romney roughly 38 times per second following the speech, according to
Zoomph, the social media analytics firm.
Romney's sentiment score, a measure of how positively users discuss a topic, was slightly higher than Trump's following the speech, according to Zoomph.
"Mitt Romney" quickly became one of the top-trending topics on Twitter in the United States. As of noon EST (1700 GMT), there were about 153,000 tweets about Romney on Twitter, according to the social media site's own metrics.
During a campaign rally in Maine, Trump said Romney had begged Trump to endorse his 2012 presidential campaign. His comments included what many on social media perceived to be a crude sexual joke.
"I could have said 'Mitt, drop to your knees,' he would have dropped to his knees," Trump said.
In his speech criticizing both Trump's policy proposals and his style, Romney did not endorse any of the candidates remaining in the Republican race.
A photo of the presidential Oval Office accompanied the tweet, with the caption "The One Who Works Here Should Make Us Proud."
Other presidential candidates remained quiet on Twitter, but Republican South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley offered her support for Romney.
Romney's sentiment score, a measure of how positively users discuss a topic, was slightly higher than Trump's following the speech, according to Zoomph.
"Mitt Romney" quickly became one of the top-trending topics on Twitter in the United States. As of noon EST (1700 GMT), there were about 153,000 tweets about Romney on Twitter, according to the social media site's own metrics.
During a campaign rally in Maine, Trump said Romney had begged Trump to endorse his 2012 presidential campaign. His comments included what many on social media perceived to be a crude sexual joke.
"I could have said 'Mitt, drop to your knees,' he would have dropped to his knees," Trump said.
In his speech criticizing both Trump's policy proposals and his style, Romney did not endorse any of the candidates remaining in the Republican race.
A photo of the presidential Oval Office accompanied the tweet, with the caption "The One Who Works Here Should Make Us Proud."
Other presidential candidates remained quiet on Twitter, but Republican South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley offered her support for Romney.