Sen. Mitt Romney criticized for saying who he might vote for in 2024

Sen. Mitt Romney is frustrating some pro-Donald Trump political commentators over his comments that he believes there are several Democratic candidates who might run in 2024 who would be an “upgrade” from Trump.

Romney’s comments to CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell first aired last month, but after clips resurfaced over the weekend on social media, several pro-Trump pundits jumped on Romney’s comments, suggesting he said he would support President Joe Biden over Trump.

But that isn’t what Romney told O’Donnell.

Romney said he doesn’t plan to support either Biden or Trump, and instead hopes there will be other options — whether Republican or Democratic.

He said he would “be happy” to vote for any of the other Republican presidential candidates besides Trump, except for “maybe not Vivek,” referring to Vivek Ramaswamy.

“I’d be happy to vote for a number of the Democrats too,” he said. “I mean, it would be an upgrade from, in my opinion, from Donald Trump and, perhaps also from Joe Biden.”

Romney said he “likes” Biden and finds him “a very charming, engaging person.” But, he said, “I think he’s made all sorts of terrible mistakes.”

Romney on Today’s Republican Party

Romney’s wife Ann Romney, who joined him for part of the interview, said they feel alienated in today’s Republican Party.

“I feel like there’s no home for us right now,” she said. “But my Democratic friends, I feel like they are saying the same thing, is that we are a people without a party right now. A lot of Americans are.”

“The great center — and we are a center-right nation — is just gone, and I think it will come back, that we’ll find our bearings again. But right now I’m a person without a party,” she said.

Earlier in the interview, Mitt Romney said he was in a “tiny, tiny slice of my party now. I mean, I don’t in many respects have a home in the Republican Party today, the party is much more populist.”

“And I’m still a Republican because I want to bring us back to the kinds of values that have allowed us to succeed in the past, but we’ll see where we go in the future,” he said.

Romney said the future of the Republican Party depends on whether or not Trump wins the presidency again.

“If he gets elected president, the party is Donald Trump. It’s in every respect a reflection of his character,” he said.

“But if he loses, I think our party moves on. I don’t know the direction it’ll take. But I think it moves on to a different course.”