Romney: Trump would win 2024 Republican nomination "in a landslide"

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said Tuesday that he believes former President Trump would win the Republican presidential nomination "in a landslide" if he decided to run again in 2024.

Why it matters: Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, has been one of the Republican Party's staunchest critics of Trump, voting to convict him in both of his impeachment trials. But even he acknowledged the vise-grip the former president has over the party's base.

The big picture: Trump has not indicated whether he plans to run in 2024, telling Newsmax earlier this month that he "won't say yet" if he will do so.

• "It’s too early to say, but I see a lot of great polls out there ... I won’t say yet,, but I have tremendous support, and I’m looking at poll numbers that are through the roof," Trump said.

What he's saying: "He has by far the largest voice and a big impact in my party ... I don’t know if he’ll run in 2024 or not, but if he does, I’m pretty sure he will win the nomination," Romney told the New York Times' DealBook DC Policy Project.

• "I look at the polls, and the polls show that among the names being floated as potential contenders in 2024, if you put President Trump in there among Republicans, he wins in a landslide," he continued.
• "I would not be voting for President Trump again. I haven’t voted for him in the past. And I would probably be getting behind somebody who I thought more represented the tiny wing of the Republican Party that I represent."