--- title: Mitt Romney: Anti-Trump Forces Hope for Independent Run description: A leader in the #NeverTrump movement met with Mitt Romney this week to try to persuade him to enter the presidential race as an independent canonical: https://time.com/4322090/never-trump-mitt-romney-independent-candidate/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-07T15:51:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:39.218Z article:section: Politics og:title: Anti-Trump Forces Hope to Draft Mitt Romney og:description: Romney met with a #NeverTrump leader to discuss the idea of an independent run og:url: https://time.com/4322090/never-trump-mitt-romney-independent-candidate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0f8275ca5b83a416/698892502dce014fca9e8fa8/donald-trump-mitt-romney.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Former Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney Interview og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Anti-Trump Forces Hope to Draft Mitt Romney twitter:description: Romney met with a #NeverTrump leader to discuss the idea of an independent run twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0f8275ca5b83a416/698892502dce014fca9e8fa8/donald-trump-mitt-romney.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Anti-Donald Trump Forces Hope to Draft Mitt Romney ## Video: A More "Presidentially Correct" Trump? [Watch (HLS stream): A More "Presidentially Correct" Trump?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Jq72wMzX.m3u8) (1:38)  _Published 2016-05-05. We're tracking Trump statements with Time's Presidential-o-Meter to see how "Presidentially Correct" he can sound._  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly May 7, 2016 3:51 PM UTC  Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts and former 2012 Republican presidential nominee, speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview in New York, on March 4. Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts and former 2012 Republican presidential nominee, speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview in New York, on March 4.Michael Nagle—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly May 7, 2016 3:51 PM UTC William Kristol, who has been a leading voice in the [#NeverTrump movement](http://time.com/4308834/donald-trump-pennsylvania-maryland-primary-results-never-trump/), met with Mitt Romney this week to [try to persuade](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/05/06/mitt-romney-met-privately-with-william-kristol-who-is-leading-the-effort-to-draft-an-independent-bid/) the 2012 Republican nominee to enter the presidential race as an independent candidate, or at least support an anti-Trump movement. Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard magazine, met privately with Romney on Thursday, [the Washington _Post_ reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/05/06/mitt-romney-met-privately-with-william-kristol-who-is-leading-the-effort-to-draft-an-independent-bid/). “He came pretty close to being elected president, so I thought he may consider doing it, especially since he has been very forthright in explaining why Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton should not be president of the United States,” Kristol said in an interview with the _Post_ on Friday. Kristol also asked for Romney’s support in the event someone else chooses to run as an independent candidate. “Obviously, if there were to be an independent candidacy, Romney’s support would be very important,” Kristol said, according to the _Post_. Romney [spoke out against Trump](http://time.com/4246596/donald-trump-mitt-romney-utah-speech/) in March, calling him a “phony” and a “fraud” in an attempt to convince Republicans not to vote for him. While the former Massachusetts governor has said he’s not interested in running as an independent candidate, he is also one of several Republican leaders who have said this week they won’t support Trump—the presumptive GOP nominee—for president. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan [said he is not yet ready](http://time.com/4320139/donald-trump-paul-ryan-republican-party/) to support Trump, and former presidential candidate Jeb Bush [said he could not support](https://www.facebook.com/jebbush/posts/876702172458827) Trump’s candidacy. “I’m certainly going to be hoping that we find someone who I have my confidence in who becomes nominee,” Romney said at a dinner Thursday night, the [Washington _Examiner_ reported](http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/dismayed-romney-says-he-doesnt-intend-to-back-trump-worried-about-demagoguery-and-populism/article/2590558). “I don’t intend on supporting either of the major party candidates at this point.” Romney said he sees “too much demagoguery and populism” from both parties at this point in time. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4322090/never-trump-mitt-romney-independent-candidate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4322090/never-trump-mitt-romney-independent-candidate/"},"headline":"Anti-Donald Trump Forces Hope to Draft Mitt Romney","datePublished":"2016-05-07T15:51:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:55:39.218Z","description":"Romney met with a #NeverTrump leader to discuss the idea of an independent run","url":"https://time.com/4322090/never-trump-mitt-romney-independent-candidate/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","mitt romney","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0f8275ca5b83a416/698892502dce014fca9e8fa8/donald-trump-mitt-romney.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0f8275ca5b83a416/698892502dce014fca9e8fa8/donald-trump-mitt-romney.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Former Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney Interview","caption":"Former Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney Interview","creditText":"Michael Nagle—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4322090/never-trump-mitt-romney-independent-candidate/","name":"Anti-Donald Trump Forces Hope to Draft Mitt Romney"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A More \"Presidentially Correct\" Trump?","description":"We're tracking Trump statements with Time's Presidential-o-Meter to see how \"Presidentially Correct\" he can sound.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Jq72wMzX/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-05-05T21:04:27.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Jq72wMzX.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4322090/never-trump-mitt-romney-independent-candidate/","duration":"PT1M38S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4322090/never-trump-mitt-romney-independent-candidate/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```