Mitt Romney Shares Very Real Reason He Fears Trump's 'Revenge' Tour

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) has worried about his loved ones safety should Donald Trump win the election and go on his promised revenge tour against political foes, his biographer McKay Coppins told CNN on Wednesday.

Mitt Romney knows that he would be on that enemies list. Hes worried about protecting his family. He said, You know, I have 25 grandkids. How do you protect 25 grandkids? said Coppins, author of the 2023 book Romney: A Reckoning.

Coppins added that he believes Romneys concerns over a possible Trump win are partially due to not wanting to set himself up as a martyr.

I think he also has understandable security concerns about talking about this stuff too much in public, Coppins said of the 2012 GOP presidential candidate.

But once I did get him talking, it was clear that he had thought through the ramifications of a president being reelected who has said that he will use the office to visit retribution, revenge on his political enemies, he added.

Romney, a longtime critic of the current GOP nominee, told Coppins in a recent interview for The Atlantic that hed take Trump at his word as far as his vow to go after political enemies.

Trump, who pledged to be a dictator on day one of a possible second term, threatened on his Truth Social platform earlier this month that he would jail foes involved in unscrupulous behavior should he win the election in November.

Romney has yet to make an endorsement in the 2024 race, although hes previously declared that he would absolutely not cast his vote for Trump.

Coppins, earlier in the interview with host Jake Tapper, said a possible Trump win was not something that Romney wanted to talk about, adding that he talked with the senator for two years for the book.

He was usually very candid with me. ... And I asked him about it, and he didnt want to go there at first, Coppins said.

Coppins later emphasized to CNN that the protection of Romneys grandchildren is a real concern for the senator.

And I think its a pretty stark reminder of where we are as a country, that the 2012 Republican presidential nominee is so worried, afraid about what it would mean for his personal safety, his family safety, if the current Republican nominee wins, Coppins said.