Mitt Romney slams Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders on Kimmel

Mitt Romney explains why he doesn’t support Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders on Jimmy Kimmel Live

Mitt Romney appeared on Tuesday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live to talk about his effort to stop Donald Trump from receiving the Republican presidential nomination. During the interview, the former Massachusetts governor was also asked whether he would vote for Democratic contender Hillary Clinton over Trump in a potential general election match-up, and what his thoughts are on Bernie Sanders.

“So if it came down to it, and you had to vote for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, what would you do?” host Jimmy Kimmel inquired. Romney tried to skirt around the question by asserting that he wasn’t planning on allowing that to happen, pledging to do all he could to nominate a candidate who supports conservative ideals, but Kimmel continued to push him on his answer.

“I would either write in a name on the ballot or I’d find some other candidate in there who was a conservative that I could support,” he responded.

“Would you write my name on that ballot?” Kimmel wondered. Romney joked that he would, as long as he wrote in his name as well.

The comedian then told Romney to give his take on Sanders, asking whether he believed he was an honest guy. Romney said that he believes that the self-described Democratic Socialist is authentic, but called his policies “terribly misguided,” and later derided his appearance as “follicly challenged.”

“Ronald Reagan used to say, ‘It’s not that liberals are ignorant, it’s just that what they know is wrong.’ And what Bernie Sanders knows is simply wrong,” Romney explained. “He’s not going to help people come out of poverty. He’s not going to build a strong middle class with policies that have been a failure around the world.”

Kimmel then suggested that Romney would select Sanders over Romney, which the former GOP nominee quickly disagreed with. “Sorry, I’m getting carried away with myself,” Kimmel laughed.

Romney then pledged that he was not in the running to get the nomination, explaining that it will be one of the four candidates currently running who will become the nominee, including someone other than Trump if there is a contested convention.

Romney ended by explaining why he was publicly speaking out about stopping Trump at all cost: “I want to make sure we have a great president, not someone who disparages people based on their religion or their race or their gender. This is the time for inclusion and greatness, and Donald Trump doesn’t represent that to me.”

Watch the segment below:

The rest of the interview included Romney urging Trump to release his tax returns, and explaining to Kimmel why he sought the billionaire’s endorsement in the 2012 election. He later read a series of mean tweets he has received since his speech criticizing Trump, including one from The Donald himself:

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According to THR, Trump responded to Romney’s interview Wednesday morning on Fox & Friends following several wins in primary states the night before. He claimed that Romney “demeaned himself” by appearing on the program, and argued that the mean tweets bit “made no sense.”

Jimmy Kimmel Live airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. on ABC. The rest of this week’s guests will include Connie Britton, Viola Davis, Isla Fisher, and another vocal Trump critic, comedian Louis CK, who recently compared the Republican front runner to Hitler.